A Daydream Away
by MyImmortalxo
Summary: All Time Low Fanfic: Sequel to My Only One. Alex and Lexie are finally getting hitched, but is marriage really going to come easy?
1. Prologue

Lexie Brandon's life has been rather complicated and some may say - tragic. Her mother died when she was twelve, her dad became an alcoholic. They moved over to America where life got better and Lexie made friends, fell in love. Then her dad died, a drunken accident and her and her brother were forced to move back to England.

She became happy again when she was back in England. She got a steady job, found her best friend Isabelle and even found love again. She got engaged and was pretty content.

Then she found out that the band All Time Low were back in the UK - the very band she became best friends with in America, and the lead singer of that band was the guy she fell in love with. She went to see them and she was very glad she did. Alex hated her to start with, it was understandable though - she had left America without even saying goodbye to him.

But her and Isabelle went out on tour with the band. Her relationship with Alex started to improve, but any mention of her upcoming wedding and he would turn cold. Then on the last day of tour, they had an argument and Lexie went to see him. They ended up sleeping together and that just put more doubt in Lexie's mind about going through with the wedding.

She didn't leave her fiance Jonathan though, she promised herself that she wouldn't do that. But then on their actual wedding day, Lexie ran out on him at the altar. She realised then what a big mistake she was making and then she was reunited with Alex again. Her and Isabelle moved to the US with them, where Lexie was happy again.

Then her friend Isabelle got pregnant with Jack's baby, who was the guitarist of the band. It wasn't a huge problem though and Isabelle had the baby the following March. They called her Darcy Elisabeth Ménard.

On the very same day that Isabelle had her baby, Alex proposed to Lexie. She accepted and now wedding plans were in motion. Who knew that Lexie Brandon, the simple girl from England would marry a guy like Alex Gaskarth. But Lexie had a feeling that marriage was only just the start.


	2. Chapter 1: The Reality

"Are you sure you've got everything?" Lexie asked as she helped put one of the boxes in the trunk of Jacks car.

"Positive," Isabelle replied, handing Lexie another bag. Isabelle had her baby two weeks ago and now she was going to move in with Jack. He didn't live that far away, though. But now that Alex and Lexie were planning on getting married, Isabelle agreed that she should live with Jack to give them space - and Jack was the father of her baby, so it made sense. "Besides, if I've forgotten anything, I can just come back here and get it."

"That's very true," Lexie agreed. "Where's Jack?"

"He's getting Darcy's stuff and bringing her out," Isabelle replied and as if on cue, Jack came out the front door, carrying a bag in one hand and the baby in the other. Isabelle took the bag and put it in the trunk, then shut it. Jack opened the passenger door and got Darcy safely into her car seat, where she slept peacefully.

"By the way," Isabelle said. "I hope you're aware that when these guys go out on tour, I'll probably be at your house all the time."

Lexie laughed, "I already figured that."

"Well I'll see you tomorow then, I guess," Isabelle said and gave her best friend a hug.

"Oh I forgot to tell you," Lexie said, suddenly remembering. "I can't go shopping with you tomorow. I've got to go have dinner with Alex's parents."

"Aw," Isabelle pouted. "I guess we can go another day. Are you telling them that you're engaged?"

Lexie nodded. "And I am incredibly nervous about it."

"You'll be fine," Isabelle reassured her. "Now I've got to get to Jacks and unpack."

"See ya!" Lexie called as Isabelle got into the car. They drove away from the house and Lexie was left standing in the garden, staring off into the distance. It was crazy how much things had changed in such little time. She looked down at her left hand, where the diamond on her ring glittered in the sunlight.

She couldn't believe that she was actually going to be marrying him. Infact, she couldn't believe she was with Alex at all. When she left all those years ago, she never even believed that she would see him again. Now here she was, living with him and making plans to get married. Tomorow, they would be telling his parents over dinner. Lexie only really had her brother to inform and since he was in England, she had no other choice but to call him and tell him.

She had no idea how long she was standing there in the middle of the drive, but then she felt arms wrap around her from behind and Alex rested his head on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he said in her ear, making her shiver slightly.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Life?" Lexie said, not quite sure herself. "It just doesn't seem real. Any of this."

"Well believe me when I say, that it is very real," Alex said and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Mm," Lexie said. "I know."

* * *

><p>"Are you seriously nervous about this?" Alex asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. They had just pulled up outside his parents house and yes, Lexie was nervous.<p>

"Well I've only ever had dinner with them once, remember? And I was like, 17," Lexie said.

"So?"

"Well now I'm 24 and I don't know," Lexie said, sighing. "What if they hate me because of what I did to you?"

"They don't hate you," Alex said. "They can't hate you anyway, not if you're going to be their daughter in law."

Lexie laughed nervously. "Right. Okay then."

Alex got out of the car and Lexie followed him as he headed for the front door. He held up his hand as if he was going to knock, but then shrugged and walked in anyway.

"Mom? Dad?" he called out. "We're here!"

Isobel Gaskarth came out of the kitchen and she looked exactly as Lexie remembered. She smiled when she saw the pair of them.

"Oh hello," she said kindly. "Come in the kitchen, dinner's nearly ready."

Lexie followed Alex into the kitchen and sat down next to him at the table, feeling nervous - though she wasn't entirely sure why. She heard Alex making small conversation with his mother as she prepared dinner and then she called Alex's dad in.

Peter Gaskarth came in and sat opposite her, greeting her as Isobel served up dinner. They all began to eat in silence, until Isobel spoke up.

"It's very nice to see you back here, Lexie," she said, smiling at her.

"It's great to be back," Lexie replied, smiling back.

"How's your friend, Isabelle?" she asked. "She and Jack just had a baby, didn't they?"

"Yeah," Lexie said. "Just a couple of weeks ago, actually. They called her Darcy."

"Pretty name," Isobel said and Lexie could feel her studying her. "Have you and Alex ever thought about having children?"

Lexie, who had a mouth full of rice, spat it out in surprise and started choking. Luckily, the rice only landed back on her plate - she would have died of embarassment if it had flew everywhere. Alex hit her on her back and she could hear him laughing.

She wiped her mouth and looked up at Alex's parents. Peter was looking at her with an expression of shock and Isobel looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. Alex wasn't trying to hide his laughter, though. She turned to him and scowled, making him immediately shut up.

"We haven't um, really discussed it," Lexie finally said and she looked down at her plate in an attempt to disguise the blush on her cheeks.

"Okay," Isobel said. "I was just curious."

"Actually," Alex began, reaching for Lexie's hand which was resting on the table. "We do have something to tell you."

Isobel glanced down at their clasped hands and looked at them in surprise, "What is it?"

Alex looked at Lexie and she nodded to let him know that she was okay. "We're getting married," he said.

The room was silent. Then Isobel clapped her hands together and burst into tears, immediately getting up from her seat and rushing round to hug her son. She then hugged Lexie as well and sat back down, wiping her tears.

"Mom, are you okay?" Alex asked, sounding concerned.

"Of course I'm okay!" she cried happily. "I've been waiting for you to tie the knot for so long!"

"You have?" Alex asked in surprise.

She nodded, smiling. "When you got back with Lexie, I knew you would eventually do it. I was just waiting until you finally got the courage to ask her."

"It's not that I was scared to -" Alex began.

"Oh be quiet, Alex," Isobel said, hushing him. "We all know that's the reason you didn't do it sooner."

Alex said nothing, just slumped back in his seat in defeat. Lexie giggled, feeling more comfortable now that she was okay with it. Then Lexie looked nervously at Peter, waiting for him to say something.

"Well I'm very happy for the both of you," he said smiling.

"Thank you," Lexie said.

"Have you thought about where you're going to have the wedding? Have you started looking for a dress yet?" Isobel asked.

Lexie spent the rest of the evening talking about weddings to Isobel. It occured to her then how little they had thought about what they want their wedding to be like. They hadn't really talked about it. She was finally let free when Alex made an excuse for them to leave. As soon as they got back home, Lexie collapsed on the couch, feeling emotionally exhausted.

"Sorry," Alex apologized. "My mom has a talent for talking."

"It's fine," she said sighing. "It made me realise though - we have not discussed anything wedding related at all."

"Well we only got engaged a couple of weeks ago," Alex reasoned.

"Yeah, but don't you think we should? We don't even know when we're actually going to have it."

Alex looked thoughtful for a second, then he said, "If you want, we can hire a wedding planner or something tomorow and make plans."

"That would be great," she said, then stood back up. "Now I'm going to go get a bath."

"What a coincidence," Alex said with a cheeky grin. "I was just going to get in."

She giggled, "Well then Mr Gaskarth, would you like to join me?"

"It would be my honour, Miss Brandon," he replied with a mock bow. She giggled again and Alex grabbed her hand, pulling her upstairs.

* * *

><p>The next day, the wedding planner that Alex called arrived at about 12. She was called Nora and was brown haired and petite. Her, Alex and Nora sat down in the living room to discuss plans.<p>

"So," Nora began. "Have you thought about a date?"

Alex and Lexie shared a look. They honestly had no idea. "Not really," Lexie admitted.

"Well how soon are you wanting to get married?" Nora asked patiently.

"This year?" Alex suggested. Lexie nodded in agreement.

"I need more help with this," Nora told them sternly. "When this year?"

"I was thinking in the summer. Like, August?" Lexie suggested. "Could we plan a wedding by then?"

"Oh yes, of course we can," Nora said, taking notes. "Where are you wanting to have it?"

Lexie frowned, she didn't really know any places. It was Alex who spoke though, "Actually, I had an idea about that. Both me and Lexie were born in England. I was raised there for part of my childhood and Lexie was for most of hers. So I was wondering if we could schedule it to happen in London?"

Lexie looked at Alex surprised, "Really?"

He nodded. "It seems right, doesn't it? Getting married in the place we were both born."

"But you were born in Essex," Lexie pointed out.

He waved his hand at her. "Technicalities," he said, grinning.

"Are you aware that it will be very expensive to do that?" Nora asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, you've got to get the flights and hotels to get to London and I'm assuming most of your guests are in America, so they will all have to be flown over as well."

"It's fine," Alex said. "I can get the money for that."

Nora looked a little surprised but continued, "Well I can do a search of places in London, get some prices and available dates and get back to you tomorow. Is that okay?

"That'll be great," Alex said, shaking her hand in thanks. He lead her to the front door and then came back in and sat with Lexie.

"Are you sure you can afford that?" Lexie asked him worried.

"Yeah, I have a lot of money in my savings that will cover it," he told her.

"Your savings? But you shouldn't be spending it on -"

"I have those savings there for an occasion like this. So yes, I should be spending it on a wedding," he said.

"Okay," she said. "If you're sure..."

"I'm positive," he said. "We can figure out the date and place, then we'll start telling people where it's happening. Then you can do all the fun stuff like getting a wedding dress."

She laughed lightly. "Okay."

"Oh and Lexie?" Alex said, reaching for her hand and looking into her eyes.

"What?" she asked, suddenly feeling kind of dazed.

"I love you," he said grinning.

She chuckled. "I love you, too."

Alex leant down to kiss her and Lexie could feel that he was still smiling. Then as she sat there wrapped up in Alex's embrace and her lips shaping together with his, it really hit her that she was going to be marrying him. She would be known as Lexie Gaskarth and thinking about that made her so incredibly happy.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, first chapter done - earlier than I planned, actually.<strong>

**The prologue was just explaining what's happened previously - I know you guys know, but I wanted to include it to give some more structure to the story.**

**I'll try and update in the next couple of days :) xo**


	3. Chapter 2: The Fear

"I've got a serious sense of de-ja-vu right now," Lexie said as the tailor put another pin in her dress.

Plans for the wedding were coming along smoothly. The date was set for the 10th August in London. They weren't actually getting married inside a church; they were going to get married outside in the church gardens. Everybody's invitations had been sent out and the only things left to deal with now was the dresses. They were flying over to England in a few days, giving them a week to settle into another time-zone and make sure everything was perfect for the day.

Right now, Lexie was with Isabelle and Cassadee in a bridal shop, getting fitted. She had chosen them to be her bridesmaids. Jack was Alex's best man and they were currently in a shop next door, getting fitted for suits.

"I know what you mean," Isabelle said as she twirled infront of the mirror, checking that the dress looked right. Lexie allowed Isabelle and Cassadee to choose their own bridesmaid dresses - as long as they were the same, and they had both decided on a dress that was a pale shade of pink. It was a silky material and was strapless. It was pretty simple, but the both of them pulled it off fantastically.

Lexie's dress on the other hand, was not simple. It was strapless, with a corset like top and it had a bow that went around her, just under her boobs. Then the dress flared out in ruffles at the waist and flowed down to the floor like a delicate waterfall. She got a pair of white heels to wear as well, she even decided to wear a veil this time. She no longer had any doubts about the man she was marrying; it felt right.

"All we need is for Jack to walk in," Lexie said, chuckling. Just then, the tailor told her that she had finished adjusting her dress and she went out into the front of the store.

Lexie, Isabelle and Cassadee were left alone, all stood up in their dresses. Lexie grinned as she looked at them both.

"What are you so smiley about?" Isabelle asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm just happy," Lexie replied, beaming. "You both look so beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you!" Cassadee said. "Alex is going to die when he sees you!"

Lexie giggled, fiddling with the material of her dress. She was then smothered into a hug by her two friends and then when she was let free, she became aware that she was crying.

She quickly wiped away the wetness from under her eyes, but Isabelle noticed.

"Why are you crying?" Isabelle asked in disbelief.

"These are happy tears," Lexie said, smiling through her tears. Isabelle shook her head, laughing, then went to go change back out of her dress.

Lexie was about to start getting changed, when Jack walked through the door. Now this was serious de-ja-vu.

"What are you doing in here?" Lexie asked.

"Well Alex wanted to come in as well, but the store clerk wouldn't let him. He's apparently not allowed to see you in the dress before the wedding," Jack said, sprawling out on one of the couches.

"Too right, he's not," Lexie said. "It's bad luck, remember?"

"Whatever," Jack said grinning. "I left him out there with Darcy, so you guys need to hurry up. I don't think he really knows how to handle children. He looked really awkward when I handed her to him."

"Well if you would get out, I could get changed," Lexie said. Isabelle had no problem changing in front of him, obviously, but Lexie and Cassadee weren't about to.

"Aw," Jack said, pouting. "I won't look, I promise!"

"Both of us know that you're lying," Lexie said, eyeing him suspicously.

"Okay, if I -" Jack started to say, but he was cut off.

"Jack!" Alex called from the front of the store. "Your child is crying and I've no idea what to do!"

Lexie laughed at the worry in Alex's voice and Jack just rolled his eyes, but got up and left the room anyway. Lexie, Isabelle and Cassadee all got changed back into their normal clothes and left the store with Alex and Jack. The dresses and suits were getting shipped over to the UK that day, now that they were the right fitting.

The excitement inside Lexie's body was building every single day, but so were her nerves. Even though she had no doubts about her feelings from Alex, getting married was a big commitment. Still, if everything went according to plan, it was going to be perfect.

* * *

><p>They all flew over to London a couple days later. The flight wasn't really a pleasant one, not now that Isabelle had a baby with her. Darcy was not an easy sleeper and cried pretty much all the time. Lexie had no idea how her and Jack coped.<p>

For their honeymoon, they were flying to Lanzarote. The flight to get there was apparently a long one, so they were flying at midnight on the day of the wedding, meaning that they would arrive there in the morning. It was a two week holiday and Lexie was glad that her and Alex could have some private time. Everybody seemed to use their house as a hang-out place.

Lexie really enjoyed spending time in London again. She spent most of the week going to all her favourite places with Isabelle and spending time with her brother. Infact, she was completely happy with her life until something happened the day before the wedding.

She had just visited her brother and gone to the bridal store in the city centre to make sure everything was fine with the dresses. Then she went into the nearest store to get some food for her, Isabelle and Cassadee that evening. They were having a hotel-room change so that all the girls were together.

Lexie was just heading down the ice-cream aisle to get some Ben&Jerrys, when she walked into somebody. Literally. She dropped the basket she was holding, in surprise, and quickly bent down to pick it up again, muttering her apologies to the person she bumped into. But then she got a real look at their face, and gasped when she realised who it was. Jonathan.

"Lexie?" he asked in surprise, eyes running up and down her. He didn't really look any different since the last time she saw him - except now, his eyes looked colder.

"Hi Jonathan," she said quietly, not sure how he was going to react to seeing her. She brushed the hair back from her face, nervously as she spoke to him, then immediately wished she hadn't. She had used her left hand. He had seen the ring.

His hand snapped out to grab her wrist and he pulled her roughly towards him, looking at her hand. "You're marrying him?" he asked angrily, through gritted teeth.

"Yes," she said, not really sure how she could get out of the situation. She twisted her wrist, trying to get out of his grasp but he just held tighter.

"So, what?" he spat, angrily. "You left me at the altar and then jumped into bed with him. Now he's got a fucking ring on your finger as well?"

"Jonathan, please," she said, feeling rather scared. "It wasn't like that. It's been over a year, can't you let it go?"

That was obviously the wrong thing to say, because he exploded with anger. "Let it go?" he shouted. "I CAN'T LET IT GO! YOU STUPID SLUT, YOU RUINED MY LIFE!"

She cringed at the loudness of his voice, but tried to remain calm. "Jonathan," she said calmly. "You're hurting my wrist. Please let go and we can talk like civilised adults."

But he didn't let go, he grabbed her other wrist and pulled her roughly towards him, so that their bodies were almost touching. He put his face right infront of hers, and spoke slowly and coldly. "I am going to make you pay, I swear to God, I am -"

"What's going on here?" Lexie breathed a massive sigh of relief as one of the store clerks turned into the aisle, looking at the pair of them in shock. Jonathan immediately let go of her.

"Nothing is going on," he said then walked the other way and out of the aisle they were standing in.

"Are you okay, honey?" the store clerk asked. Lexie just nodded, rubbing her wrists. She could feel tears starting to build in her eyes and didn't want anybody to be around to see it. She quickly dashed around the store, payed for her things then started running.

She had no idea where she was running to. She just ran. She ran for what felt like ages, until she came to a park which appeared to be deserted. She sat on one of the swings, dropping her bag at her feet. Then she let all her emotions out.

She just started crying, then found that she couldn't stop. All her guilt at what she did to Jonathan came rushing to the surface, along with fear. She had never seen Jonathan like that before and it terrified her. He said that he was going to make her pay. She tried to tell herself that he could never do that - she was only going to be there for one more day then she was leaving again. How would he have the chance to 'make her pay'?

She started to worry that he may do something at the wedding. But he had no idea when it was, or where it was. It wouldn't be possible for him to do that. Then she looked down at her wrist, where purple marks were already forming in the shape of his fingers. He was capable of doing anything.

Then seeing the bruises made her start crying even more. She was getting married in less than 24 hours. How the hell was she supposed to cover that up? Alex would go insane if he saw them, but there wasn't exactly an easy way of hiding them. She supposed that she could wear bracelets, but she couldn't wear them all the time.

Lexie had no idea how long she was sat there, until she became aware that it was now dark. Fear set in. She was alone in a deserted park. She pulled out her phone, but she had no signal. She quickly picked her bag up again and hurriedly left the park, walking back as quickly as she could from the direction that she came.

She kept looking over her shoulder, fearing that somebody was about to jump out at her any second. That thought made her start running again and she didn't stop until she was right under the city lights and at the front of her hotel.

She made her way upstairs to the room that she was sharing with Isabelle and Cassadee, thankful that she wasn't going to be seeing Alex until the next day. When she walked into the room, she was suddenly bombarded with questions from the pair of them.

"Guys!" Lexie nearly shouted. "Please just calm down for a minute."

Isabelle pulled on her arm and sat her down on one of the beds, and Cassadee followed. "Lexie, do you have any idea how worried we've been? You went out five hours ago! You weren't answering your phone! We were out of our minds."

"You haven't said anything to Alex, have you?" Lexie asked nervously.

Isabelle shook her head, "I knew he would just get more worked up than we were. I figured he didn't need that stress the night before his wedding."

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Cassadee asked. "You look awful."

Lexie took a deep breath, then told them everything. She started crying again but was pulled into a comforting hug by Isabelle. They were both understanding when she told them that she just started running. Sometimes you just needed to get away.

"Now about these bruises," Isabelle said, taking hold of her wrist. "We can cover it with some bracelets tomorow and I can even try and put make up over it, but Alex is going to see them sooner or later."

"I know," Lexie said quietly. "But I don't want him to find out. He'll go crazy if I tell him."

"You're going to have to tell him," Isabelle said. "It'll be a lot worse if he finds out by accident. He'll be angry that you kept it from him."

"But think about what he's going to do when he finds out!" Lexie cried.

"Well, to be honest," Isabelle said. "I kind of want to go find Jonathan and chop his balls off. Nobody hurts my best friend. Nobody."

"Izzy, that wouldn't help anything," Lexie said glumly.

Isabelle shrugged. "It would make me feel better about the whole thing."

Lexie sighed. "I'll tell Alex. But not tomorow. I don't want anything ruining our wedding day."

"Fair enough," Isabelle said. "Just hope that he doesn't see them tomorow."

"I don't want to think about that now," Lexie said. "I want to just spend the rest of the night with my friends and focus on my wedding tomorow."

"That we can do," Cassadee said grinning. "I'll get the movies!"

Lexie just spent the rest of the night watching movies with her two best friends and tried to forget about Jonathan. But he kept creeping to the surface of her mind. Something was telling her that she hadn't seen the last of him.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I kinda just wanted to hurry the story up a bit - that's why I jumped right to the wedding part.<strong>

**I also needed to tell you guys that this story is not going to be getting updated as often. I'm starting college on Monday and I'm going to have less and less time to do any writing. I promise you that I will try my best, but I may only be able to update maybe once every week, or once every fortnight.**

**I'm sorry about that, but there's nothing I can really do about it.**

**I promise I will do my best to update as soon as possible! xo**


	4. Chapter 3: The Big Day

**I just have one request for this chapter, and that's for you all to listen to Dashboard Confessional - Stolen during the wedding/reception/first dance scenes :)**

* * *

><p>"Lexie!" Isabelle yelled. "Get up!"<p>

Feeling groggy, Lexie opened her eyes to see Isabelle leaning over her.

"You're getting married today!" Isabelle cheered and then skipped into the bathroom.

Lexie smiled happily as she sat up in bed. She really was getting married today. To Alex. And that thought alone put all her worries about Jonathan out of her head. None of it mattered right now.

Isabelle came back in the room with a make up bag and hair supplies, looking determined.

"Cass has gone down to get breakfast," Isabelle said. "Meanwhile, I need to get started on making you look pretty."

The rest of the morning, Lexie was completely pampered. She had breakfast, then was treated to a manicure and pedicure. Then Isabelle did her hair and make-up, so all that was left was for her to get dressed.

She waited a while before she put her dress on though, and helped Isabelle and Cassadee with their hair and make-up. Then they all got their dresses on and were ready to go. Isabelle had given Lexie some white beaded bracelets, that covered the bruises on her wrists very effectively. They weren't noticeable at all.

Lexie was left sitting on her own in the hotel room as Izzy and Cass went to go tell the guys that they were ready. Typically, all the guys were getting to the church first, where they would be waiting outside. Lexie was going to arrive with Isabelle and Cassadee afterwards and wait inside the church for everyone else to arrive.

It felt like she was waiting forever in her hotel room. Then Isabelle came back in and told her it was time to go. This was it. She was going to get married.

* * *

><p>They arrived at the church for about half past eleven, and the ceremony was scheduled for twelve. Lexie went inside the church with Isabelle and Cass. Soon after, they were joined by Noah, as he was walking her down the aisle... again.<p>

"So are you doing this for real now?" Noah asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. No running away this time," Lexie said with a nervous chuckle. She knew that Noah was only joking, but it still made her feel incredibly guilty whenever somebody brought it up. It also brought back memories from the day before, when she ran into Jonathan...

She mentally tried to shake those thoughts away. She wasn't going to think about _him_ when it was her and Alex's wedding day. They'd been through too much to have something spoil it now.

Noah seemed to realise that perhaps he had said the wrong thing, because he changed the subject and started asking her more stuff about her and Alex.

Time seemed to be moving at incredible speed, because before she knew it, the vicar came in and told them that they were ready to begin. It was then time for Isabelle and Cassadee to walk down the aisle. Then Lexie distantly heard the bridal tune and her heart began to race.

Noah linked arms with her and lead her outside into the courtyard. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and then Lexie's eyes took in her surroundings as they began to walk.

There were rows and rows of people all standing up and watching her. She could feel herself blushing with all the attention, then her eyes flicked upwards and fell on Alex. He was standing under an archway, with Jack behind him. He looked so perfect that she wanted to cry. When he caught sight of her, his face lit up with happiness and he smiled so wide that she was sure that his cheeks must be aching with it.

She suddenly had the urge to break out into a run - the tune of the music was much too slow - but Noahs arm prevented her from doing so.

Then Lexie was standing directly infront of Alex, and like in the old fashioned times, Noah took her hand and placed it in Alex's. He took hold of her other hand too, and looked her in the eyes. She didn't think she had ever seen him this happy.

The ceremony began. In all honesty, Lexie wasn't paying too much attention to what the vicar was saying. She spent the time gazing into Alex's eyes, wishing that she had not worn a veil so she could see him properly. She had spent a long time debating whether to wear a veil, but then she realised that her reoccuring dream meant nothing now. She had made the right choice.

She was brought back down to the present by the mention of her name.

"- take thee Lexie Joanna Brandon to be your lawfully wedded wife?" the vicar asked Alex.

When he spoke, he spoke with clarity and confidence. "I do."

"Do you, Lexie Joanna Brandon, take thee Alexander William Gaskarth to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," she said clearly. She had never been more sure of anything in her life.

The vicar said some more things, but she wasn't paying much attention now either. She glanced over and looked at Jack who was standing behind Alex. He was grinning like a chesire cat and when he noticed her looking, he gave her a big thumbs up.

She resisted the urge to laugh and tried to focus on what the vicar was saying. It was time for the rings.

Alex lifted her left hand closer to him, and gently pushed the ring on her finger, over her engagement ring. Then she took his hand and put the ring on his finger, too.

A few more things were said, then - "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Finally," Alex muttered. Lexie giggled as Alex put his arms around her and kissed her softly. Ignoring the fact that they had an audience, Lexie threw her arms around Alex's neck to bring him even closer to her, kissing him with all the love and passion she had inside her.

The sound of coughing and throat clearing made her reluctantly unwind her arms from around him. She looked around at all the people who were staring at them and giggled, feeling so utterly happy.

Alex put his arm around her waist and bent to whisper 'I love you' in her ear.

"I love you too," she whispered back. "More than anything."

She would have gladly started kissing him again, but then she was swept up in the crowd of people, getting passed round in hugs. She found Isabelle, who ran up to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Congratulations!" Isabelle said excitedly.

"Izzy," Lexie choked out. "I can't breathe."

Isabelle let go of her, laughing. "Sorry! I'm just excited. I can't believe you got married!"

"Me neither," Lexie said honestly. "But I'm bloody glad I did."

* * *

><p>The reception started in full swing at a posh hotel down the street. Lexie was showered with admiration and gifts for a long time, before Isabelle found her and told her that it was time for the dinner.<p>

Everyone was in their seats for dinner. Lexie was sitting next to Alex on the top table, with Isabelle and Jack on either side of them. Alex's parents were at the end, and Noah was next to Isabelle. They all ate, then it was time for the speeches. It was supposed to start with the Father of the Bride speech, but Noah had to do that instead.

The most memorable speech out of them, was probably Jacks.

He stood up and cleared his throat. "This is quite an unusual thing for me to be doing. To anybody who knows me, they know that I'm not a serious person. I'm immature and if I may say so, fucking hilarious. Oops, excuse my language. But I do know how to be serious, so here it goes: I can't think of anybody more suited for Alex than Lexie. I've known Alex for years, and I've only ever see him truly happy on two occasions; one of them is when he's with Lexie. The other is when he's on stage playing music. But my point is, is that she makes him feel _alive_. I notice it because I've known him for years and I know him so well. I can see the way he looks at her, as if she is the most important person in the universe and I know that they're going to be together forever. So if we could all raise our glasses; to Alex and Lexie!"

Jack sat down, then stood right back up again. "Oh, and I forgot something; I like boobies."

Everybody laughed as Jack sat back down again. Alex pulled him into an awkward side hug and muttered, "Thanks man."

Lexie looked over at Jack, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She didn't know what to say. He apparently understood this, because he just put a finger to his lips for her to not say anything, as Isabelle stood up to say something.

It's true what everybody says; it really is the happiest day of your life.

* * *

><p>After the wedding dinner, everybody moved out into the hotel ballroom where the proper party started. Lexie limited herself to two glasses of champagne, as she should be able to handle that. Even though it was her wedding day, she didn't want to get completely drunk. Especially as they had to leave for the airport at about 10 o'clock.<p>

Alex seemed to be thinking the same thing as her, as he didn't have much to drink either.

At some point after the party started, the DJ announced that it was time for the bride and grooms customary first dance. Feeling slightly nervous, Lexie allowed Alex to lead her onto the dancefloor and she could feel everybody's eyes on them. Alex wound his arms around her waist and she linked hers around his neck.

The song that started playing was 'Stolen' by Dashboard Confessional.

It wasn't so much as a dance, but more of a 'sway on the spot'. She didn't care though, she wasn't much of a dancer and she was just happy to be in the warmth of Alex's arms.

Alex bent his head down and started lightly kissing her neck. She sighed in contenment, pulling on his hair slightly.

"You look absolutely beautiful tonight, Mrs Gaskarth," Alex whispered in her ear, and she could hear the smile in his voice as he said it. That was the first time he had called her that since they got married. She shivered, though it wasn't because she was cold and Alex's arms tightened even more around her as they continued to dance.

The rest of the night flew by in a blur. Lexie danced with pretty much everyone and she had to sit down after a while to catch her breath back. She was sitting there for about a minute, when Jack came and sat next to her.

"Congratulations on the wedding, Mrs Gaskarth," Jack said grinning.

"Why thank you," she replied. "I also wanted to say thank you, Jack. For the speech you did. I loved it."

"No problem," Jack said and he put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I meant it all, you know."

"I know you did," she said. "It really means a lot."

"You wanna know something that I think is funny?" Jack asked randomly.

"What?" she asked, looking at him curiously.

"Everybody here knows that you and Alex are going to be having sex later."

She laughed, "Trust you to think of that."

"It's true though!" Jack said. "Everybody knows that the bride and groom have sex on their wedding night."

"Well we won't actually be doing that tonight," Lexie said thoughtfully. "We're leaving in under an hour to go get our plane..."

Jack paused. "Okay, so maybe not tonight. But everybody knows that you two will be keeping busy on your honeymoon."

"I love you Jack," she said laughing. "You have such a way with words."

"I know right?" Jack said grinning.

"Well while I'm 'keeping busy' on my honeymoon, make sure you look after Isabelle," she told him sternly.

"Don't worry," Jack reassured her. "She'll be fine."

About ten minutes later, Lexie was dragged away to the bathroom by Isabelle, where she was made to change out of her dress. It wasn't really suitable to wear a wedding dress on a plane.

She changed into a summery red dress & heels, then pulled her hair out of it's pins so it cascaded around her shoulders and looked less formal. Then she was handed her suitcase for the holiday and ushered outside into the hotel lobby where Alex and most of the guests were waiting.

Alex had changed into jeans and a white t-shirt and was currently hugging his mother. Lexie rushed round to find her brother and hug him goodbye and then she was getting her suitcase into the taxi.

Before she knew it, her and Alex were on their way to the airport. As she sat curled into his arms, she looked at the ring on her finger. She couldn't believe that she'd actually married Alex. He was now her husband and she felt like she could have cried with happiness.

* * *

><p><strong>I know this chapter was kinda cheesey, but I don't really care :)<strong>

**& I was just wondering, is there anything you would like to see happen in this story? I have quite a few plans for when they get back home and for stuff that would happen a few years ahead, but I don't have anything planned for their honeymoon and stuff. So I was curious as to whether there's anything you guys want to happen :)**

**I'll try and update ASAP. Thank you for reading :)**


	5. Chapter 4: The Start

Lexie and Alex's honeymoon seemed to end as soon as it began, though it was a two week holiday. Lexie could honestly say that it was the best holiday she had ever been on and she was incredibly sad when they had to fly back home. But at the same time, she was excited. They were now going to be living as an official married couple.

When they arrived back in Baltimore and got into the house, they were there for a total of 5 minutes before there was a knock at the door. Lexie answered it and was immediately tackled into a hug by Isabelle and nearly fell over by the force.

"I've missed you!" Isabelle cried. "We need to have a girly catch up! Tell me all about it!"

"I will if you let me go," Lexie choked out, finding it difficult to breath.

"Oh, sorry," Isabelle said and let go of her. She was now standing infront of her with a radiant smile on her face. "So, how was the honeymoon?"

"Izzy, I've been back in the house for about 5 minutes," Lexie said exasperated. "Can you please just let me get settled in and unpacked before we talk?"

Isabelle pouted. "Fine. I'll come back later at dinnertime with Jack."

"Bye!" Lexie called, as Isabelle left the house.

Lexie walked back into the living room and carried her suitcase upstairs. Alex's case was open on the floor and most of his clothes were lying around the room. How did he make a mess that fast? She was about to call out to find where he was, but then she heard the sound of the shower and just sat down on the bed, needing to rest. It was a long flight, and she felt like she could sleep for a week.

* * *

><p>The next thing that Lexie was aware of, was a tickling sensation on her foot. She giggled slightly and shifted her feet, but kept her eyes closed. Then she felt a hand trailing up her leg, tickling her skin. She giggled again as she felt the bed move beneath her and opened her eyes to see Alex hovering over her, with a huge grin on his face.<p>

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Alex said. "It's six o'clock. Isabelle's going to be here in about half an hour."

"Six o'clock?" Lexie said alarmed and sat up so quickly that she accidently headbutted Alex.

"Ow!" Alex yelled, clutching his head as he moved to sit on the opposite side of the bed. "Fuck! That hurt!"

"I'm sorry!" Lexie said, putting her hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to do that!"

"It's fine," Alex said grimacing. "You've only just caused me permanent brain damage. No big deal."

She rolled her eyes. "You're not brain damaged, Alex."

"I could be," he said. "Then you'd spend the rest of your life living in guilt, because you caused your husband to get brain damaged."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," she said smirking.

"Why did you headbutt me, anyway?" Alex asked.

"Because it's six o'clock! I've slept all day! There was so much stuff I needed to do. I have to unpack, I needed to -"

"It's all taken care of," Alex interuppted.

"What?" she asked, taken aback.

"All the errands you needed to do," Alex said. "It's taken care of. I did it for you."

"Really?" she asked surprised. "Well... thank you. But you didn't need to do that."

"You were more tired that what I was. It's not a problem," Alex said, then stood up. "You should probably shower or something before Izzy and Jack get here, though. You stink."

She stook her tongue out at him, but went and got a shower regardless.

* * *

><p>The rest of the evening was incredibly fun. Lexie had really missed Isabelle and Jack, even if they were only away for two weeks. She also got to spend a bit more time with her god-daughter, Darcy.<p>

Isabelle and Lexie were sitting in the living room, with Darcy asleep in Lexie's arms. Alex and Jack were in the kitchen, most likely drinking.

"She looks just like you," Lexie said as she looked at Darcy's sleeping form.

"Jack says that as well," Isabelle mused. "But I don't really see it."

"Well she does," Lexie told her, smiling. "You're a really good mother."

"Thanks," Isabelle said blushing. "Jack is actually a really responsible dad, too. I wasn't sure if he could take the responsibilty seriously, but he's been amazing."

"How are things with you guys, lately?"

"Really good, actually," Isabelle said happily. "I really love him."

Lexie smiled, "Good. You deserve to be happy, especially with somebody as great as Jack."

"Yeah..." Isabelle said, then paused. "I just sometimes wonder if he only started dating me because he got me pregnant."

"What?" Lexie nearly yelled and then panicked thinking that she had woke Darcy, but she just stirred in her sleep. "Why would you think that?"

"Well we weren't together before, were we? And the time we slept together, we were both completely drunk..."

"Even if you were both drunk, I don't think he would have slept with you if he didn't like you," Lexie told her. "I remember Alex told me around that time that he didn't want to ask you out, because he wasn't sure if you liked him back or not."

"Really?" Isabelle asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Really." Lexie spun around in surprise to see Jack walking in, followed by Alex who sat down next to her.

"Jack, I didn't want you to hear that, I -" Isabelle began.

"I thought I'd made it clear before," Jack said, sitting next to her. "I love you, okay?"

"But it's just that we only -" Isabelle said.

"It doesn't matter how I met you, or how we got together," Jack said. "All that matters, is that we did. Okay?"

Isabelle smiled. "Okay," she said with a grateful sigh and rested her head on Jacks shoulder.

"Aw, look at you both all grown up and in love," Alex said.

"Fuck you, Alex," Jack said.

"Okay. Later," Alex said winking.

"Come round to my place," Jack said. "I warn you though - I'm expensive."

"If I cook you dinner, will you do it for free?" Alex asked.

Jack considered this for a moment, then said, "Nope. It's 200 bucks an hour."

"Dammit," Alex muttered. "Well what -"

"Guys," Lexie interuppted. "Please stop with this conversation."

"You're just jealous," Jack said, sticking his tongue out.

Lexie laughed, "This is a perfect example of why all your fans think you two are gay together."

"Maybe we are," Alex said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Lexie looked at him for a moment, then handed Darcy back to Isabelle and stood up. "I give up. I'm going to bed."

"But you've been sleeping all day!" Alex said.

"Who said I was going to sleep?" she said winking. "Feel free to join me, if you want. Or you can take up Jacks offer..."

She stood there and folded her arms, waiting for Alex to say something. He looked like he was thinking really hard about his decision.

"Okay, you guys need to get out of here," Alex said, standing up as well. "I want to go and have sex with my wife."

"Way to put it subtly, Gaskarth," Isabelle said, standing up, cradling Darcy to her chest.

Lexie said goodbye to them, then went upstairs and changed into her nightwear and layed down in bed. Alex came in a few minutes later and looked at her, confused.

"I thought we -" he started to ask.

"I lied," Lexie said. "I'm still tired. I want to sleep."

Alex scowled. "That's very sneaky of you."

"Suck it up," she said grinning.

"I could turn that into an innuendo, but I fear that you will hit me if I do," Alex said and stripped down to his boxers, laying next to her in bed.

"You're learning very well," she said, patting his arm.

"So is this what being married is like?" Alex said. "Being bossed around by my wife?"

"Yes," Lexie said. "Now go to sleep. I'm pretty sure you have to meet Matt and the band for tour stuff tomorow."

"Damn, you're right," Alex said, then switched off the bedside lamp.

As Lexie layed down in bed, she had a feeling that she was really going to enjoy being married.


	6. Chapter 5: The Mix Up

"You stupid slut!"

"How could you do that to Alex? I hope you rot in hell!"

"You don't deserve a guy like Alex, he could do so much better than you."

These were just some of the mentions that Lexie was getting on Twitter. They were harsh, to say the least. These ones being the kindest ones among them. Lexie looked at her computer screen in confusion. What had she supposedly done? She never usually got that much hate from fans, just the odd ones who wanted Alex for themselves.

She noticed that one person had tweeted her a Tumblr link, so she clicked on it. There she saw what had made them all so angry. It was a picture of her and Jonathan kissing in London town centre. She remembered having that picture taken - she was in town with Jonathan, Isabelle and Isabelle's boyfriend from that time. Isabelle was going through a phase of taking photos of everything, and she took a photo of them kissing. This photo was nearly two years old.

Lexie just sat there dumb-founded. So somehow this photo had ended up online, and now everybody thought she had cheated on Alex? Did nobody realise that it was an old photo?

Deciding that she should squash this rumour before it well and truly began, she tweeted "That photo you're all getting angry about was taken nearly 2 years ago. Don't jump to conclusions. I would never cheat in a relationship."

She was about to tweet something else, when Alex called her from downstairs. She put her laptop aside and went downstairs, where Alex was sitting in the kitchen on his laptop.

"What's up?" she asked, sitting across from him.

He looked at her with confusion etched over his face. "Why is everybody telling me that I should divorce you? Or in this persons words 'You should ditch that slutty bitch and marry me instead.'"

Lexie tried to hold back a laugh, and quickly explained about the photo thing and showed him it online. He actually laughed when she explained.

"It's kind of obvious that it's an old photo," he said, studying it. "Your hair is kinda short there, and now it's almost to your waist."

"I know," she said, sighing. "But I guess people just want to expect the worst in me, don't they?"

Alex shrugged, "People like starting rumours. I swear, there's one about the band splitting up nearly every week. But none of it's true. People shouldn't believe everything they hear."

"I suppose," she said, then paused. "But what I want to know is, how did that photo get online anyway?"

"That is a very good point," Alex said. "Isabelle took it, right? Call her and ask her if she knows anything."

Lexie nodded and went to get her phone, dialling Isabelle's number.

"Hello?" Isabelle said after a few rings.

"Hey Izzy," said Lexie. "I wanted to ask you -"

"Dammit! Sorry, Lexie. One minute," Isabelle muttered, then she shouted away from the phone. "Jack! Can you please take Darcy for a minute?"

Lexie heard a muffled reply, then some talking that she couldn't make out.

"Right, sorry about that," Isabelle said. "What's up?"

Lexie explained about what had happened and asked Isabelle if she knew anything.

"I have no idea how that ended up online," Isabelle said.

"But you were the one who took that picture, you must have some idea," Lexie said reasonably.

"Well I don't," Isabelle said. "Unless..."

Isabelle went silent. "Unless what?" Lexie asked impatiently.

"Well maybe Jonathan had a copy of that photo," Izzy said. "You did say that when you saw him in London, that he was going to make you pay... maybe this is his way of revenge."

"Jonathan!" Lexie exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that? Well it certainly made everybody hate me and think I'm cheating on Alex. But it seems a bit mild for Jonathan... I have a feeling he might try something else, if it is him."

"Hmm, well we'll just have to stay alert for anything like this," Isabelle said. "Speaking of your incredibly jealous ex-boyfriend, did you ever tell Alex about when you saw him in London?"

"Um no," Lexie said awkwardly. "I never saw a right moment to do it."

"Well you should tell him now," Isabelle said. "He deserves to know."

Lexie sighed, "You're right. I'll do it."

"Okay," Isabelle said. "I'll let you know if I hear any Jonathan related news. I've got to go. Bye!"

"Bye," Lexie said, then hung up the phone. She realised that Alex was no longer in the room and went to go and look for him. She found him in their room, where he was in the process of changing his shirt.

"Isabelle has a theory," Lexie said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Alex pulled his shirt over his head, then sat next to her.

"I assume it's a good one, otherwise you wouldn't look so serious," Alex said.

Lexie explained about Isabelle's theory, and then before Alex could respond to that, she told him about when she saw Jonathan the night before their wedding. Alex looked livid.

"So you didn't think this was necessary to tell me at the time?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"It was the night before our wedding!" she said defensively. "I didn't want anything to spoil it!"

"Well what about after the wedding? Why did you wait until 2 months afterwards to tell me?"

"There was never a good time! And to be honest, I forgot about it until Isabelle mentioned Jonathan being the one to send out that photo. You're mad at me, aren't you?" Lexie asked nervously.

"Yes," Alex said bluntly. "You should have told me straight away."

Lexie said nothing, she knew that he was right and she felt guilty for not telling him about it sooner.

Alex sighed and stood up, heading for the door. "I'm going to Rian's. I'll see you later."

"Alex, wait -" she started to say, but he ignored her and left.

She sighed and layed down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Whatever it was that Jonathan had planned, it was certainly working.


	7. Chapter 6: The Incident

"Alex is ignoring me," Lexie said glumly as she sat down in McDonalds with Isabelle. They had just met for lunch, then they were going to have some girly shopping time.

"I assume you told him, then?" Isabelle asked.

"Yep," Lexie said. "He was angry. He left to go to Rian's and he hasn't really spoke to me in the past couple of days."

"Your husband is an idiot," Isabelle told her.

"He's not an idiot," Lexie said haughtily. "He's just pissed off at me."

"He's still an idiot," Isabelle said. "Ignoring you isn't going to make anything better."

"It's just what Alex does," Lexie said, sighing "He'll start talking to me again soon. It just hurts when he doesn't."

"Well then stop worrying about him," Isabelle said simply. "You have other things to worry about - any Jonathan news?"

"None at all," Lexie said. "A few people are still talking about that photo, but the hype from that has died down now that I've explained what it was about."

"Well I just hope we don't get any news from him at all," Isabelle said. "I know that we don't know for definate if it was him or not, but I think it's safe to assume that it was."

"Yeah," Lexie said in agreement. "I'm just worried about what else he might try and do."

"Don't dwell on it. What happens will happen. Forget about him for now, okay?" Izzy said.

"Yes ma'am," Lexie said with a mock salute.

Isabelle laughed. "Okay, to help you forget about him, you should come out with me tonight. Clubs, drinking... d'ya fancy it? We haven't had a girls night out in ages."

"Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"Nope," Isabelle said grinning.

"Well then I would love to go," Lexie said.

"Excellent."

* * *

><p>Later that night, Lexie was climbing out of a taxi with Isabelle close by her heels as they headed through town to the nearest club. When Lexie had got home from shopping earlier, Alex had not been home and she had no idea where he was now. But she wasn't going to worry about Alex - she was here to have a good time with her best friend.<p>

They made their way into the club and headed straight for the bar, and Lexie saw something that made her heart drop. It couldn't be... surely she was imagining it.

"Hey Lexie, what is it you're -" Isabelle started to say, then paused. "You look like you've just seen a ghost. What's up?"

"Huh?" Lexie said, not paying attention. "Oh. Um, nothing. I'm fine."

"Hmm," Isabelle said, clearly not convinced. "Well whenever you feel like telling me..."

Lexie said nothing, just allowed Isabelle to choose her drink for her as she looked around, trying to find him again. What was he doing in Baltimore? It didn't make any sense.

Half an hour later, Isabelle had clearly had enough of Lexie being distracted. She grabbed her arm and pulled her into the bathroom.

"Okay, seriously, what's up?" Isabelle demanded, tapping her foot impatiently.

Lexie sighed. "Jonathan's here."

Isabelle clearly wasn't expecting that. She blinked in surprise and said, "Seriously? He's here? As in in this club right now?"

"Yes," Lexie said. "I saw him when we came in."

Isabelle pursed her lips and led Lexie back out of the bathroom and they both took seats by the bar. Lexie could tell that Izzy was looking around for Jonathan, and it was clear when she saw him. Her eyes turned to slits and she let out a low hiss from her mouth.

"That jackass," she muttered. "I can't even tell if he's with anybody."

"I think he's here alone," Lexie said. "That's what makes it scary. He's come over to Baltimore alone... why?"

"My guess is because of you," Isabelle said bluntly. "I've no idea what he's got planned, but I can't think of any other reason for him to be here."

"Well you know what?" Lexie said, feeling determined.

"What?"

"I don't care," she said simply. "I came here to get drunk with my best friend, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"That's my girl," Isabelle said, grinning.

* * *

><p>Lexie had no idea what time it was. She had no idea where Isabelle had gone. All she knew is that she had been drinking. A lot. The room seemed to be spinning as she stumbled across the floor of the club, desperately trying to spot Isabelle in the haze of people. No luck.<p>

Then she bumped into somebody. Jonathan.

She wasn't expecting the impact and almost fell over in surprise, but he reached down and caught her before she hit the floor. He kept hold of her, his hands on her waist keeping her steady.

"Woah," he said in surprise. "Are you okay, Lexie?"

She looked up at him, feeling confused. "You're not supposed to be here," Lexie said dully, words slurring slightly.

"Am I not?" Jonathan asked. "Why's that?"

"Because you're out to get me, aren't you?" Lexie mumbled, not really sure of what she was saying.

"Don't be silly," Jonathan said. "Now, why are you in a club alone?"

"Isabelle's gone," she replied.

"Where's Alex?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him all day. He's mad at me," she said pouting.

"So doesn't he know where you've gone?" Jonathan asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Come on, then," Jonathan said, putting his arm around her. "I'll take you outside and get you a taxi or something."

She shook her head quickly. "No. No, I can't do that. I need to find Isabelle and -"

"But you don't know where Isabelle is," Jonathan interuppted. "She could have gone home."

"I suppose so," Lexie shrugged and then she allowed herself to be lead outside of the heat of the club, so that they were both standing beside the road.

She shivered as a gust of wind blew past them and Jonathan put his arm tighter around her.

"Have you called a cab?" she asked, dazed.

"What?" Jonathan asked. "Oh. Yeah. It should uh, be here any minute."

There was something off about the way Jonathan was acting, and if she was sober, she would have probably ran the opposite direction as fast as she could. But she wasn't sober, and she had no idea what she was doing right now.

"It's cold," she whined, wrapping her arms around herself. All she was wearing was a silver dress, she didn't think to bring a jacket.

Jonathan took her hand and said, "Come this way. It'll be warmer over here."

"Where?" she asked as he pulled her along behind him, but he didn't answer. Lexie allowed herself to be pulled halfway down the street and then she was turning around a corner and she stumbled slightly as Jonathan roughly let go of her hand.

She surveyed her surroundings and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Are we in an alley?"

Jonathan nodded slowly, a grin spreading over his face. He put a hand on her hip and moved her sideways a bit more and then pushed her backwards so that she was standing against the brick wall.

"What are you doing?" she asked feeling really dazed. "Why have you brought me here?"

"I told you that I was going to make you pay, didn't I?" Jonathan said in a falsely sweet voice. Lexie didn't answer, just stared at him. "You ruined my life, Lexie. _Ruined_ it. How is it fair that you get to play happy families with your stupid rockstar husband, while I'm stuck with the pieces you left me?"

"I told you I was sorry," she mumbled.

"It's not good enough," he said harshly. "I need to make you pay, Lexie. I'm sorry, but I do. I thought posting that photo would cause some friction between you and Alex, and it worked, didn't it?"

"So it _was_ you," Lexie said, mostly to herself. She knew that she should be absolutely terrified right now, but she just felt nothing.

"Yes, it was me," Jonathan said. "I knew I could do better, though. So I flew over to Baltimore. I'm only here for a week, don't worry. But I saw you and Isabelle in town today and heard you planning to come out tonight - so I did, too."

"You've been stalking us?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Technicalities. But I saw an opportunity. You're here completely alone and drunk. I know what you're like when you're drunk. You're in no state to put up any kind of defense and your husband is completely oblivious to where you are."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, feeling confused by his words.

"This is me making you pay," Jonathan said simply, then he stepped closer to her.

He stood infront of her, so that his body was almost touching hers. She felt one of his hands running up her thigh, towards the hem of her dress, while she could feel his other hand unzipping her dress at the side. She knew she should scream. Should do anything, but she couldn't. Then she felt something heavy hit her head and everything went black.

* * *

><p>When Lexie regained conciousness, her head felt like it was splitting in half with pain. Infact, most of her body was aching and she felt like she could be sick at any moment.<p>

She had no idea where she was at that moment, but when she opened her eyes, she realised that she was in her own bed at home.

She tried to sit up but the whole room seemed to spin when she did, and she flopped back down onto the pillows. She looked down at herself and noticed that she was only wearing her underwear. She felt confused. She couldn't remember hardly anything from the night before. What had happened?

She reached over to the bedside table and picked up her phone - it was 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Lexie decided that she wanted to find out what had happened - now - and she attempted to call out Alex's name. But when she did, her voice was hoarse and dry.

She whimpered, feeling helpless and curled back into her covers.

Alex must have apparently heard her, because he came into the room less than a minute later, looking relieved when he saw that she was awake.

He kneeled beside the bed and took her hand. "How're you feeling? Does your head hurt? Do you feel dizzy? Tired?" he asked, not leaving a space between the questions for her to answer.

"What happened?" she mumbled. "I don't understand how I got home."

Alex looked awkward. "What's the last thing you remember?"

She had to think carefully before she said, "I remember drinking with Isabelle. We saw Jonathan at the club. Oh my god, Jonathan! He's here! In Baltimore!"

"I know," Alex said quietly. "Anything else?"

"Um, not really," Lexie admitted. "What happened to me?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Jonathan tried to rape you last night."

"What?" she asked, feeling horrified. "How? I - I don't understand. Surely I would remember something like that."

"You were pretty drunk," Alex told her.

"Then - how did I get home?" she asked confused.

"I don't know everything that happened - I only know stuff that Isabelle told me and that I witnessed myself," Alex said, then he launched into the story. "I got home last night and you weren't here. I called Jack and he said that you and Isabelle had gone out. I didn't think anything of it - I mean, you two are best friends. But then I got a call from Isabelle. She sounded completely drunk, but she sounded serious at the same time."

"She said that she had lost you at the club and she was worried. She mentioned that you had seen Jonathan there and she was thinking the worst. So I got in my car and drove straight there. I met Isabelle outside the club where she was crying, she couldn't find you anywhere inside. I ran down the street looking for you - and, and I found you."

Alex's voice cracked on the last part, and she squeezed his hand in a reassuring way. Alex continued. "He - he was lying on top of you. You were just in your underwear and completely knocked out. I saw your dress lying on the ground."

"He didn't hear me get there. He was touching you all over," Alex said, sounding as though he wanted to be sick. "I ran over and pulled him off you, then I punched him. Several times. I think I knocked him out. Or broke his nose at least. Then I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around you, before I picked you up and carried you to the car, where Isabelle was waiting. I dropped her off at home and brought you back here. Now - here you are."

"So - so, he didn't, y'know?" Lexie asked, biting her lip.

"No," Alex said, shaking his head. "I got there just in time."

"Oh my god," she said horrified, releasing Alex's hand and covering her face with both of hers. "How could I be so _stupid?_ I was nearly _raped._ I can't believe it. I should have just left when I saw Jonathan. I should have left. I should have -"

She couldn't finish what she was saying because she just started sobbing into her hands. Right now, she really hated herself for not defending herself. She had made herself vulnerable and almost gotten herself raped. If Isabelle hadn't rang Alex... what would have happened? She didn't really want to think about it.

She felt the bed shift on the other side of her, and then she was pulled into the circle of Alex's arms. He just held her, stroking her hair softly as she sobbed into his chest.


	8. Chapter 7: The Feeling

"For the last time Alex, I'm _fine_," Lexie said irritably.

It had been two days now since the incident with Jonathan, and Lexie had barely had a moment to herself since. Alex insisted on helping her with everything and it was wearing thin on her patience. She knew that he was only trying to help, but she couldn't help feeling irritated by it. Right now, she had just got out of the shower and she was surprised he had even allowed her to go do that.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked. "Because I could -"

"No!" she shouted. "I'm not a fucking invalid, okay? I can look after myself."

She immediately felt guilty for shouting at him, as his face dropped in sadness. But she didn't wait for him to say anything, she just walked past him out of the room and went downstairs into the kitchen. She got a couple slices of bread and stuck them in the toaster, and then leaned against the counter waiting for it to be done.

Alex walked in as she was buttering her toast and she turned to look at him, feeling more and more annoyed.

"What?" she asked sharply. "Am I not capable of making my own breakfast now?"

Alex raised his eyebrow at her. "So you're pissed at me because I've been trying to help you? Fantastic," he said with sarcasm dripping from his words.

She put her plate down and sat on the counter. "I get that you want to help," she said, trying to make her voice sound less harsh. "But I don't _need_ any help. I'm fine, okay?"

He walked across the kitchen so that he was infront of her, stood in between her legs, and put his hands on her waist. "I'm sorry that I've been kind of smothering you lately," Alex said. "But Lexie... you nearly got raped two days ago. It's bound to have some kind of effect on -"

"But it hasn't," she interrupted. "The only thing it's done is make me hate Jonathan even more than before. He makes me sick, and -"

"Are you positive?" he asked. "Because I've heard about this sort of thing. Girls get raped and then they become traumatised and never want any physical contact with anybody a-"

"So that's what you're worried about? You think that I'm never going to sleep with you again because of that?" she asked teasing, running her hands up his chest.

He smiled slightly. "You know that's not what I meant," he said. "But it's really not affected you at all? Or affected us?"

"How would it have affected us?"

"I don't know," Alex said shrugging. "Like what I said before - when this sort of thing happens to girls, they tend to freak out over anything physical or any kind of relationship, and I don't want -"

"I'm fine," she said again. "I promise."

"So you wouldn't mind if I did this?" Alex asked, leaning down and pressing his lips onto hers. She ran her hands further up his chest and then around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He made a sound of surprise as she bit down lightly on his lower lip, but did not protest. Then deciding that she wanted to take more control, she wrapped her legs around his waist so that their bodies were tight together.

She felt him smile against her lips as she did that. Then she felt his hands tighten on her waist and she was lifted from the kitchen counter and held up only by Alex's hold on her, and her legs around him. He kissed her faster, fiercer and she tugged on his hair as his lips moved from her lips to explore her neck.

"Upstairs?" he whispered in her ear.

She shook her head. "Just stay down here," she said breathlessly.

Alex nodded and she was carried into the living room and she felt the soft material of the couch beneath her, as Alex continued to kiss down her neck. His hands moved under her shirt, lifting it swiftly over her head and began kissing her again.

"Alex, wait," she breathed as his hands hovered at the waistband of her pants.

"What's up?" Alex asked, lifting himself up to look at her.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," she said. She knew it was a bit of an awkward time to bring it up, but she needed to say it. "I've acted like a bitch towards you for the past couple of days when you were only trying to help."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'd probably feel the same if I were you - I didn't mean for it to seem like I thought you were helpless. I was just concerned."

"I know," she said smiling. "That's why I needed to apologize."

"Apology accepted," he said grinning, then kissed her again. "I'm sorry too - when you told me what Jonathan did before the wedding, I acted like a jerk. I should have talked to you about it, instead of ignoring you."

"You're forgiven," she told him. "Now kiss me again."

"Very demanding, aren't you?" he teased.

"Yes. Now kiss me," she said again. He did just that.

* * *

><p>Happy that her and Alex were back to normal, Lexie decided that she would ask him about Jonathan. She was curious about a few things.<p>

"Alex, can I talk to you?" she asked him after they had just had dinner.

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's about Jonathan," she began. "Well, since what happened, you haven't really spoke about him. I would usually expect you to try and do something."

"I have," Alex said, then seeing Lexie's eyes widen, he quickly added, "I've tried, anyway. When I kept leaving the house over the past few days, I was going out to try and find him. No luck."

"Seriously?" she asked in surprise. "What exactly were you planning to do?"

Alex shrugged, "I don't know. But I couldn't just let him get away with what he tried to do, I wanted to do something."

"But you hit him that night though, right?"

"Yeah," Alex said. "Wish I'd have done it a couple more times, though."

"Alex, just forget about him okay?" she asked. "I'm trying to. He won't be in Baltimore for long, he'll be gone soon."

"Well until I know for certain that he's back in England, I can't forget about him," Alex said reasonably, then stood up grabbing his keys. "Right, I've got to go meet Jack."

"What? Why?" she asked confused.

"I told you earlier," Alex said. "We're going into town. You don't mind, do you?"

"Oh," she said. "No, of course not. I'll go round to Isabelle's or something."

"Okay," he said and kissed her on the cheek. "See you later!"

* * *

><p>The next day, Lexie went with Isabelle - and Darcy - to the mall for something to do. Neither of them really needed anything, but Lexie just wanted to get out of the house, so Isabelle suggested they went shopping.<p>

They had been round most of the shops by the time the evening was drawing in and Lexie had bought a new sweater, now that winter was getting closer.

Before they were heading to leave, Isabelle had gone into the bathroom to change Darcy's diaper - Lexie had crinkled her nose in disgust and opted to wait outside. Then Lexie saw him. Again.

Jonathan had just walked out of a store opposite of where she was standing and looked her dead in the eye. He walked over to her, an odd smile on his face.

"We meet again, Lexie," he said.

"Get away from me," she said sternly. "You make me sick."

"Don't be like that," he said in a falsely hurt voice.

"If you don't get away, I swear to god -"

"What? Your hero husband will come and punch me again?" he asked, like he thought the idea unrealistic.

"No," she said. "I will."

He looked at her confused for a second, but then she swung her hand backwards and snapped it forwards, punching him in the face.

He staggered backwards with the force, clutching his jaw. She stood there awestruck at what she had just done, and surprised at her strength, but she felt a sense of pride at the same time.

"Woah, what's going on here?" Isabelle said from behind her, holding Darcy in her arms.

"Jonathan was just leaving," Lexie said coldly, glaring at him.

Jonathan said nothing. He just looked at her for a few seconds, then skulked away.

"What did you do?" Isabelle asked in amazement.

"I punched him," Lexie said simply.

Isabelle was silent for a moment, then said, "If I were a lesbian, I would be so turned on by you right now."

Lexie laughed, feeling free, as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

* * *

><p>When Lexie had got home and told Alex what happened, he picked her up and spun her around in a circle.<p>

"That's my girl," he said with pride when he set her back on the ground.

She laughed, "It was a good feeling."

"Damn, I wish I could have seen you do that," Alex muttered.

"I could punch somebody else infront of you, if you want," she suggested.

"Great idea! I'll call Jack," he said and actually got his phone out of his pocket.

She reached a hand out to stop him, "I was joking."

"I wasn't," Alex said.

"Yeah, I can tell," she said grinning.

"Well I feel a lot less worried about leaving you tomorow for tour, now," Alex said more seriously.

"You were worried?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "You've left me at home to go on tour before."

"I know, but Jonathan was never around, was he?" Alex said. "And on this tour we're going over to Europe, you can't blame me for being a little concerned."

"I'll be fine," she reassured him. "I'll probably be with Isabelle most of the time you're gone."

"And Darcy," Alex added.

"Yes. And Darcy," she amended. "Doesn't Jack miss not seeing Darcy when you're on tour?"

"Of course he does," Alex said. "Isabelle as well, obviously. But it's not good to bring a child out on tour, so he knows it's for the best."

She didn't say anything. She just had a thought of what her and Alex's future would be like - they could have children, but with the amount of touring the band did, would it be like she's a single parent? She knew that Jack never really saw Darcy that much because of touring, though she knew that when they were at home, he spent as much time as possible with her and Isabelle.

But she thought to herself, could she do it? Could she look after a child while Alex was touring the country? She wasn't entirely sure. She didn't voice these concerns to Alex though, she just spent the rest of the evening watching movies with him. But it did play on her mind for hours and it was the main reason she didn't get much sleep that night.

Having children was a serious thing and she did honestly want to do that with Alex, but she wasn't sure if she could cope by herself. _But,_ she thought to herself as she turned over in bed, looking over at Alex's sleeping form,_ she would just have to worry about that when the time came._

* * *

><p><strong>Hi, I haven't really wrote an authors note in the past few chapters, I haven't had much to say.<strong>

**But thank you for being patient with my un-regular updates. I don't really have the time to do much writing, college keeps me busy pretty much all of the time, but I'm doing my best :)**

**Just to let you know, the next chapter will be set a couple more years into the future. I've kinda dealt with the whole Jonathan issue, so there's not much to happen in this part of the story.**

**I'll post the next chapter within the next few days - it's half term and I'm not doing anything for the first half of the holidays.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 8: The Insecurities

_3 years later_

"I've missed you," Alex said in her ear, as they held each other tightly. The band had just got back from a big tour that involved them touring all over Europe and then heading over to Australia. They had been gone for just over a month.

She said nothing, just stayed in the warmth of his embrace until Alex unwound his arms from around her, saying that they should probably go inside. Lexie blinked in surprise when he said that, feeling slightly confused. She then realised that they were just standing on the end of the driveway and Alex's car trunk was still open with his case inside.

They retreated inside and Lexie helped him unpack, taking his clothes to be washed as well. This was pretty much a routine now, and she didn't really mind. She was just glad to have him back.

Alex was so jetlagged that they pretty much did nothing for the rest of the day, and Alex also went to bed rather early. Lexie stayed up to make sure all his things were sorted, and when she went to bed he was already fast asleep.

They had a rather odd relationship, but Lexie was used to it by now. Smiling to herself, she got into bed and was instantly asleep.

* * *

><p>The next day, Lexie spent most of the morning cleaning - Alex was pretty much a slob until he got back into a regular routine - and then she went to go shower to get ready for later. They were going over to Jack and Isabelle's house for a 'Yay We're Home From Tour For A Week Before We Go On Tour Again' party.<p>

Lexie stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, before stepping out into her room to find some clothes. She jumped as she felt arms wrap around her when she was looking in her drawers, and turned her head to see Alex grinning down at her.

"I want to talk to you," he said in her ear.

She turned around so they were facing each other and said, "What's up?"

"Come sit down," he said, taking her hand. They both sat on the edge of the bed and Lexie looked at him curiously. He was being rather... serious.

"Are you alright?" she asked him nervously.

"Fine," he said, but he did look rather nervous.

"Then what's up?" she asked again.

"Okay," he began. "I've been thinking. We're both 27 now - I'm 28 in a few months - and we've been married for about 3 years. Well it was actually my mom that put this idea in my head, I was thinking it anyway, but you know what my mom's like, she -"

"Alex," she interuppted. "Are you going to get to the point?"

"Right. Yeah," he said, shaking his head as if to clear it. "What I'm trying to say is, have you thought about ever having kids, at all?"

She was a bit surprised at how nervous he was about asking her that, but she smiled when he said it. "I have, actually. I've been thinking about it quite a lot recently, but I wasn't sure if you were too."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Alex asked puzzled.

"I don't know," Lexie said, not sure of how to say what she was thinking. "Because of the band, I guess. Having kids is a big thing and I don't want you to feel like you have to prioritise me over the band."

"Lexie," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. "I do that anyway."

She smiled slightly. "Not like this. If we had kids, you'd have more responsibility at home and you might be less inclined to go out on tour."

"Of course I would be," Alex said. "But that wouldn't stop me being in a band. It might just mean that we tour a bit less than we do now."

"But that's another thing," Lexie said, biting her lip. "I just feel that it might be like I'm a single parent if you're away from home all the time."

Alex paused. "I'm confused. Do you want me to tour or not?"

"I do!" Lexie said, feeling desperate for him to understand her. "I do. I don't want you to stop doing what you love because of me. But I'm just worried, as well. You won't be there all the time and I don't think I could take care of a child by myself."

"I'll be there as much as possible," Alex said. "Jack and Isabelle managed to do it - Jack still gets to see Darcy, and he's actually a great dad. It'll be fine. I promise you."

"Really?" she asked, still unsure. "You're not just going to like, become a reckless dad and leave me to do all the work?"

Alex smirked. "Is that really what you think of me?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that," she said chuckling. "But you're positive? I don't want to raise a child by myself, I want us to do it together."

"I'm positive," Alex said with a reassuring smile.

"Okay then," Lexie said.

"Okay."

"So, when do we... start?" Lexie asked awkwardly, not sure of how to phrase her question.

Alex considered this for a moment, then said, "We could start now."

"Right now? As in this minute?"

"Why not?" he said shrugging. "You are um, alright to start now?"

Lexie didn't understand what he meant at first, then she clicked on a few seconds later. "Oh! Yeah, I'm fine in that... department."

"Excellent," Alex said, grinning.

Lexie giggled as Alex pushed her so she was laying down on the bed and kissed her. Things were going to be completely different between them now, but Lexie didn't mind one bit.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Lexie got ready and went over to Isabelle's house with Alex. They got there expecting for it to be pretty empty at first, but they were very wrong. As they drove down the street, the music coming from their house could already be heard.<p>

"This should be fun," Lexie said sarcastically, as Alex pulled up outside the house.

Alex smirked, "It would be fun if you would drink."

"I am not drinking," Lexie said firmly as she clambered out of the car. "I do bad things when I'm drunk."

Alex's smile faltered a little as he too, remembered what happened with Jonathan. But he composed his expression and said, "Well maybe it's a good thing, then. You can make sure I don't do anything stupid."

"What? Like kiss Jack again?" Lexie teased.

Alex glared at her, "We did not kiss!"

"Yeah you did," Lexie said. "Isabelle took a photo of it."

"You're mean," Alex said pouting.

"Oh come on," Lexie said grinning. "Lighten up a bit."

Alex just shook his head, chuckling slightly and led the way inside. As Lexie looked around the room, she saw many familiar faces and also a lot of people she didn't recognise. It looked as though Isabelle had just invited the whole state.

She followed Alex into the kitchen where they found Jack getting beers out of the fridge.

"Get me one, dude!" Alex called to Jack. Jack handed Alex a beer and then they were talking to each other in the corner of the kitchen.

Lexie was just about to ask them what they were talking about when Jack yelled, "Fuck yeah!" and they both left the kitchen. _Well that was odd,_ she thought to herself.

Feeling a lot like a chaperone at a party, Lexie grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and was about to go look for Isabelle, when Isabelle suddenly appeared in the kitchen.

"Soda?" Isabelle asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're such a prude."

"I need to stay sober," Lexie said. "Otherwise Alex will start making out with Jack again, or something worse."

"True. Nobody wants to see that," Isabelle said giggling.

"Who did you invite, Izzy?" Lexie said, looking round the room. The kitchen wasn't as full as the living room, but there were a few people crowded in the corner doing shots.

"I don't know," Isabelle shrugged. "I just sent out word to everybody I know, and I guess they all brought people too. I don't care, though. I make Jack do the cleaning up."

Lexie laughed, "I'd probably do the same too. Where's Darcy, by the way?"

"Jack's parents house," Isabelle replied.

Lexie opened her mouth to speak, then realised it probably wasn't good to talk about something like that infront of everyone. "Come with me, a minute," Lexie said and grabbed Isabelle's arm, pulling her upstairs.

Lexie went into the bathroom and Isabelle sat down on the edge of the bath, before saying, "What's up?"

She debated whether she was going to tell her or not, after all, her and Alex had only just decided. But no doubt Alex would tell Jack, and her and Isabelle were best friends.

"Me and Alex are going to start trying for a baby," Lexie declared.

Isabelle smiled brightly, and got up to hug her. "Oh my god, really? I'm so happy for you! When did you decide this?"

"Um, earlier today actually," Lexie said when Isabelle released her.

"Aw, I'm so happy for you," Isabelle said. "You'll both be great parents."

"I wanted to talk to you about this, actually," Lexie said nervously. "I know I've asked you this before, but it's more serious now. Do you think I'll be a good mom? I'm honestly so scared. I mean, I want to have kids but I'm just worried. How do you cope with Jack being away all the time?"

Isabelle sighed. "Lexie, you need to stop worrying so much. You'll age prematurely," she said seriously. "Honestly, I think you and Alex will be great parents. Yes, Jack isn't always around but I manage. Darcy's just over 3 years old and even she understands that he can't always be here. But when he's home, he spends pretty much all of his time with her. You'll be _fine._"

Lexie nodded, "I'm sorry. You know I'm insecure... I was just worried."

"Well stop it," Isabelle told her. "Now lets go have fun!"

Lexie smiled gratefully as Isabelle hugged her again and they went back downstairs. As they walked into the living room, she saw Alex, Jack and Flyzik playing beer pong. Laughing to herself and thinking about how annoying Alex was going to be later when he was drunk, Lexie went to join Isabelle to dance.

She was still kind of insecure, but she had been reassured about he worries by two of the people she loved the most, and she thought that everything really would end up okay.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, next chapter should be ThursdayFriday, but if not then it will be Sunday/Monday!**


	10. Chapter 9: The News

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this," Lexie said into Alex's chest, as she hugged him one last time before he left. The guys were going back out on tour again.

_"_Me neither," Alex said, then he kissed her hair. "I think the baby-making plans will have to halt for a little while, as well."

"Mm," she said. "It's fine."

"Alex!" Matt shouted from outside. "Come on! We've gotta go!"

"I'll see you in a few weeks," Alex said then kissed her quickly on the lips. "Try not to miss me too much."

"I'll do my best," Lexie replied with a small smile. Then she watched as Alex went out the front door, and she stood there motionless until she heard the sound of their van leaving.

Sighing, she slumped back upstairs and climbed back into bed, pulling the covers over her head. She had just over 3 weeks until she saw him again. 3 weeks.

* * *

><p>It was the second week of Alex's absence when Lexie got ill. She had got up that morning and made herself some breakfast, only to bring it back up ten minutes later. Groaning, she had shuffled back to bed where she layed watching movies in her room for most of the day.<p>

She spent most of the morning and afternoon being sick in the bathroom, but she started to feel better by evening time, so she drove round to Isabelle's house.

"Wow, you look like shit," Isabelle said when she opened the door.

"Hello to you too," Lexie said with a grimace, following Isabelle into the living room.

"Don't go near Darcy," Isabelle said as she sat down on the sofa. "I don't want her catching anything."

"Where is she?"

"Upstairs. I just put her down for a nap, but she'll be awake soon enough," Isabelle said with a heavy sigh.

"What's up?" Lexie asked, confused by Isabelle's tone of voice.

"I am so _tired_," Izzy said, eyes getting wider. "She always gets more restless when Jack isn't here and she's not sleeping straight through the night, so she's waking me up. I've hardly slept since the band went out on tour."

"Do you want me to look after her for a couple of nights?" Lexie asked. "I don't mind."

"Usually I would say yes," Isabelle said. "But if you're all ill and gross, I don't want you passing whatever you have onto her."

"Don't say I never offered," Lexie said, grinning slightly.

"What's up with you, anyway?"

"I've no idea," Lexie replied. "I've just been throwing up all morning and afternoon. It's disgusting."

Isabelle gave her an odd look, one that she couldn't quite place, but she simply said, "You could just have a stomach bug."

"I guess," Lexie said, then picked up the TV guide. "What're we watching?"

"Um," Isabelle said, then paused. "I was being forced to watch Cartoon Network but I suppose we can change it now."

Lexie chuckled. "Being a parent sounds so fun," she said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh it's glorious," Isabelle replied sarcastically. "Nah, in all seriousness, being a parent is amazing. I think you'll love it."

"Well I won't know until I have one, will I?" Lexie said.

"Hmm," was all Isabelle said, but she gave her a look as if she knew a secret. Lexie didn't question it, but just spent the rest of the evening watching The X Factor, before heading back home again.

* * *

><p>The next morning was a repeat of the previous one. As was the morning after that. It was really getting on Lexie's nerves, she was never usually the type of person to get ill.<p>

When Isabelle came round to see her, Lexie said she was thinking about going to the doctors and Isabelle gave her an exasperated look.

"The doctors? Really?" Izzy said, raising her eyebrows.

"Well there's obviously something wrong with me!" Lexie said defensively.

"I don't think there's anything _wrong,_" Isabelle said, looking her straight in the eye as she spoke. "I think this could be a _positive_ thing."

"How is being ill a positive thing?" Lexie asked, confused. She had no idea what Isabelle was talking about. "I don't think that -"

"Oh for gods sake, Lexie," Isabelle said with a dramatic sigh. "You're not ill, you're pregnant!"

"W-what?" Lexie stuttered. "That's ridiculous! I can't be..."

Lexie trailed off as she spoke, not sure if she could believe what Isabelle was saying to her. But then she really thought about it. The signs were there and when she quickly did the calculations, she realised that her period was over a week late.

"I think I could be," Lexie finally whispered.

Isabelle immediately jumped up, looking excited. "I'll run out to the store and get you a pregnancy test!"

Lexie sat there silently as Isabelle went out, not quite sure what she was feeling. Yes, her and Alex were trying for a baby, but she was never expecting it to happen so soon. In all honesty, she was feeling terrified now that becoming a parent could be a reality. She wasn't sure how to react.

Isabelle returned twenty minutes later and wordlessly handed her the box. Lexie went upstairs into the bathroom and took a deep breath, before taking the test. This was it. Her future was resting on the outcome of this test.

Isabelle came into the bathroom when she had taken the test and they both sat on the edge of the bath, while they waited for the two minutes to be up.

After what felt like forever, Isabelle looked at her watch and said, "It's time." Lexie was about to ask Isabelle to look at it for her, but then decided against it. If she really was pregnant, she needed to see it for herself first.

She took a deep breath and walked towards the sink. Then she picked up the test from the edge of the sink and turned it over. It was positive. She gasped, putting her other hand over her mouth. She was pregnant. Her and Alex were going to have a baby.

Isabelle must have figured what the result was, because then Lexie was wrapped in a hug by her best friend as tears started to slip down her face. Was she happy? She wasn't sure. She was more surprised than anything else. She hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

After a couple of minutes, Isabelle unwound her arms from around her and grabbed some tissues to wipe away her tears. "What're you crying for, silly?" she said soothingly. "This is supposed to be a happy moment."

Lexie attempted to laugh, but it came out as more of a choke. "I don't know if I am happy though."

Isabelle looked at her, perplexed. "If you're not happy about being pregnant, then why did you and Alex decided to try for a baby?"

"I do want kids!" Lexie said. "It's just... I don't know. I didn't expect it to happen so soon. I thought I would have more time to prepare myself for this, but it's happening. It's now, and I don't know how to deal with it."

"Well you're going to have to prepare yourself fast," Isabelle said. "Because in 9 months, you're going to have a baby, and everything will be different."

"I know," Lexie said sighing. "I'll be alright. I just kinda thought that we'd have to be trying for months before I got pregnant. It's a bit of a shock."

"Well I got pregnant the first time I ever slept with Jack," Isabelle pointed out. "Damn, we all seem to be really fertile."

Lexie laughed, then paused. "How should I tell Alex?"

"Well they come home in 5 days," Isabelle said. "You could wait until he gets back?"

"Hmm," Lexie said. "I could. But I kinda want to go out and surprise him."

"Ooh!" Izzy said excitedly. "Yeah! You should do that! I'll come with you!"

"Right, well they're playing in New York tomorow I think," Lexie mused. "D'ya think we could make it there for tomorow evening?"

"If I drive fast," Isabelle said with a grin.

* * *

><p>First thing the next morning, Lexie and Isabelle got ready, got their stuff and headed for New York by car. It was too late for them to get plane tickets now. They were driving for a long time, but kept up conversation throughout most of the journey, and had fun singing along with the radio.<p>

By about 6 o'clock, they arrived at the venue that the band were playing at. It then occured to Lexie that they didn't have tickets to get in. Would they be let in because Lexie was with Alex, and Izzy was with Jack? She wasn't sure if that would work, so Lexie texted Jack:

_Come outside into the venues car park, but shh, don't tell Alex anything :)_

Jack didn't reply, but 5 minutes later they saw him walking outside, looking around confused. They both climbed out of the car and hurried towards him.

"Izzy! Lexie!" he said happily, hugging them both and kissing Isabelle. "What're you doing here?"

"I've come to surprise Alex," Lexie said. "Where is he?"

"I think he's in the dressing room," Jack said, while he slipped his hand into Isabelle's. "C'mon, I'll show you."

Lexie followed Jack and Isabelle into the venue, and Jack said, "What are you surprising him with? Just you?" he asked confused.

"It's a secret," Lexie said grinning. "I'll tell you later."

Jack shrugged. "Fair enough," he said, then turned to Isabelle. "Why didn't you bring Darcy with you? I want to see her."

"I didn't think bringing a small child on a roadtrip was a good idea," Isabelle replied coolly. "She's with your parents; she's fine."

"I know," Jack said, pouting slightly. "But if you were coming down, I just wish you would have brought her as well. I don't want her forgetting me..."

"She won't forget you!" Isabelle reassured him. "Trust me. She won't sleep through the night if you're not here, she misses you too."

"Well it's just four more days, I guess..." Jack said, drifting off into silence. Then they reached a room and Jack said, "He'll be in there."

"Thank you!" Lexie said, then stepped into the dressing room.

Alex was sat on the sofa with his laptop on his knee. Clearly, he had not gotten ready yet; his hair was a mess, he was unshaven and he was wearing sweats. He looked up in astonishment when she walked in. He put his laptop aside, and rushed up to hug her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise, letting her go, but keeping hold of her hands.

"I came to surprise you," she said, feeling more nervous about telling him.

"But I'll be home in a few days..." Alex said, trailing off. "I wasn't expecting you to come visit."

"I wasn't planning to, either," Lexie admitted. "But circumstances change."

"What're you talking about?" he asked confused.

She took a deep breath, and just said it: "Alex, I'm pregnant."

It took a few seconds for her words to register in his mind, but then he smiled radiantly. "Seriously? You're pregnant?"

She nodded smiling. "I took the test yesterday, and I wanted to tell you as soon as possible but I didn't want to do it over the phone."

"I can't believe it!" Alex sang happily and pulled her into another hug, holding her tightly.

"I don't think tight hugs like this are good for the baby," Lexie informed him.

"Oh. Right," Alex said, blushing but he was still smiling. He leant down and kissed her fiercely and she could feel all the happiness inside him as their lips touched. She never imagined that it would make him this happy.

Alex pulled his mouth away from hers and leant his forehead against hers. "I love you, Lexie. Did you know that?"

"Mm. I think I've heard you say that before," she said smiling. "I love you, too."

Suddenly, Alex was gone from infront of her and he was on his knees. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her stomach.

She laughed, "Alex, what on earth are you doing?"

"Hugging our future child?" Alex said, clearly not sure of why he did it, himself.

"Our future child is probably the size of a pin. If that," she pointed out.

Alex shrugged, but stood up anyway and wrapped his arms around her again. "You seem incredibly happy," she noted.

"I am," he said, grinning. "Man, New York are going to experience the best All Time Low show ever tonight."

She laughed and leaned forward to rest her head against his chest. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Me neither," Alex said. "But I'm glad it is."

"Mm," she said. "Me too."

* * *

><p>Lexie and Isabelle were going to stay to watch the band perform, then stay over on their bus before driving back to Baltimore in the morning. Pretty much everybody had been informed about the pregnancy within an hour, and Lexie was getting hugs and 'Congratulations' from everybody, everywhere she went.<p>

Before they went on stage, Alex came over to her and said, "Hey, would it bother you if I announced the big news on stage tonight?"

She considered that for a moment. Would it bother her? She thought that it might, as it was only early days in the pregnancy now and she didn't really want people knowing her personal business; but then she thought that he might as well say it. All the fans seem to find out anyway, it's better coming from Alex.

"It's fine," Lexie said. "You can say it."

Alex smiled and kissed her before walking out on stage and then Lexie just heard a lot of deafening screams after that.

Nearly halfway into the set, as they had just finished playing a song, Jack said into his mic, "Hey Alex, you seem to be very hyper tonight."

"I know," Alex replied happily. "I think I've been roofied or something."

"Sorry, I did that," Jack said. "I wanted to have my dirty way with you later."

"You didn't need to drug me to do that, dude!" Alex said as he was switching his guitar. "I'd do that willingly."

Jack shrugged, "It's better if you're drugged though. That way your wife can't get angry at me for it."

Lexie heard laughter from Alex and from the crowd. Jack turned in her direction and winked at her. She chuckled, feeling mesmerised by how natural performing on a stage was to them. Even all these years later.

Alex then started to speak again, "Actually, there is a genuine non-illegal reason to why I'm so happy tonight."

"Do tell, Alexander," Jack said in a mock posh voice.

"I have an announcement to make," Alex said, then turned around. "Rian, I need you to give me a drum roll. Make this shit real dramatic!"

Lexie heard Rian do a drum roll, then Alex shouted, "I'm going to be a daddy!"

There was a chorus of 'Aww's' and cheers from the crowd when he said this and he looked so happy that Lexie wanted to cry.

"And I'm the mommy!" Jack said, making the crowd laugh again.

"Yes, me and Jack are having a baby," Alex said laughing. "No, I am being serious, though. My wife told me today that she was pregnant and I would just like to thank her for making me the happiest man on the Earth, as cliche and mushy as that sounds."

There was a lot of cheering from the crowd and Alex spoke again, "So yeah, that's why I'm acting like a loonatic on stage tonight."

Then Jack said, "Hey! Lets give it up for Alex, his wife Lexie and their unborn child!"

There was another chorus of cheers from the crowd, then Alex said, "Okay, enough about my extra-curricular activities. It's time for another song!"

By the time Alex had said that, tears were rolling down Lexie's cheeks. She felt so unbelievably happy in that moment, just seeing how happy her news had made him. She wanted to treasure that feeling forever.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm so sorry this chapter was late, guys!<strong>

**I have just had no time at all to do any writing, and I'm not sure when I can post another chapter. I'll try and do it for the same time next week, but I can't promise anything :/**

**But thank you for reading and reviewing, see you next time!**


	11. Chapter 10: The Anxiety

"Would you rather have a girl or a boy?" Lexie asked Alex one evening, as they were curled up on the sofa together. All Time Low weren't going to be touring for about a month or so, the main reason being that Alex wanted to be with Lexie more now that she was pregnant. It also gave Jack the opportuinty to spend more time with Darcy.

"Hmm, I don't know," Alex replied, as he rubbed circles into her hips in a soothing motion. "I know it might sound cliche, but I don't really care as long as the baby is healthy. What about you?"

"I don't know either," Lexie said honestly. "But I think I want a girl more."

"Why's that?" Alex asked.

Lexie squirmed uncomfortably, feeling awkward about talking about it, but she decided to say it anyway. It was Alex. She could tell him anything. "I guess because of my mum. She died when I was twelve, so I kinda had the crucial years of me growing up without her, and believe me; I could have used her help over my teenage years. So I kinda want a daughter so I can give her what I never had, y'know?"

Alex stroked her hair gently and said, "I understand."

There was a long silence, then Alex said "How many kids do you want?"

She deliberated that for a second before saying, "Two I think. Maybe three."

"Mm, me too," he said, sounding rather sleepy. "Maybe we can have one of each."

She chuckled and said, "Yeah, maybe."

* * *

><p>"Some people say the <em>weirdest<em> things," Alex said in amazement as he read his mentions on Twitter.

Lexie laughed, "They love you, it's normal."

Alex smirked and continued reading. He then looked up at her and said, "Y'know since I announced that you were pregnant, I've had a lot of fans asking me when I lost my virginity. I've also had a couple of people saying that they thought I was still a virgin... really? I'm 28 years old and married!"

"Plus you are a bit of a manwhore," Lexie pointed out. "I don't really see where they got that from."

"I am not a manwhore," Alex said with a pout, then sighed. "Okay, I used to be. But I'm not anymore, see I'm married!" When he said this, he pointed to his wedding ring and grinned cheekily.

"I have no idea how I cope with you sometimes," Lexie said shaking her head.

Alex stuck his tongue out at her, then pulled his laptop shut. "So, have you made an appointment at the hospital yet?"

She nodded. "I rang up this morning. We go tomorow at 1 o'clock."

"Nervous?" he asked.

"Kinda," she admitted. "I'm only 5 weeks pregnant so they won't be able to get a heartbeat or anything at this stage, but they can tell me if there's any problems or..."

"Hey, don't worry," Alex said, getting up to hug her. "Everything's going to be fine, okay?"

She nodded, "I'm just being silly."

She knew that she was just being silly, she always worried too much over simple things. But being pregnant and becoming a mother terrified her, and she just wanted to do it right.

* * *

><p>"Lexie Gaskarth?" the nurse called. Lexie got up from her seat and followed the nurse out of the waiting room and down the corridor, Alex close behind her. "Just in here," the nurse said kindly, gesturing into one of the rooms.<p>

Lexie walked in and sat down on the hospital bed, while Alex sat on the seat beside her. He reached out and held her hand, squeezing it gently.

The doctor swivveled round on his chair and said, "Hi there Lexie, I'm Dr Wills. Is this your husband?"

He gestured to Alex as he said this, and he reached over to shake his hand. "Yeah, I'm Alex."

Dr Wills looked at him blankly for a moment, then his eyes darted down to the chart in his hand. "Alex Gaskarth?" he asked.

Alex looked slightly confused, but said, "Yes."

"Sorry, I'm being totally unprofessional," Dr Wills said, chuckling. "But my daughter absolutely loves you and your band. I thought the name sounded familiar."

"Really? What's her name?" Alex asked.

"Loretta," Dr Wills said happily. "She's 17."

"Well... tell her I said hi," Alex said with a grin.

"Will do," Dr Wills said smiling. He then turned away from Alex and looked at Lexie as if he had only just realised she was there. "Right, can you lift your shirt up for me?"

She did as he asked, and then the cold gel was rubbed onto her stomach. She felt the nerves building up inside her as the doctor began the scan, and Alex gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.

"Well everything looks normal," Dr Wills said as he monitored the screen. "As you know, we can't get a heartbeat at this stage, but everything looks good."

Lexie sighed in relief and Alex leaned over and kissed her forehead. It was happening. They were going to become parents.

* * *

><p>Lexie had called Isabelle when her and Alex got home, and they had spent about an hour chatting on the phone about baby stuff. Now that she had a scan, and her fears were put to rest, Lexie really started to feel excited about the whole thing.<p>

"I'll come round tomorow and bring you all the pregnancy vitamins and stuff I took," Isabelle told her.

"Okay," Lexie said. "But is it all really necessary?"

"Well no, it's not vital," Isabelle said. "But it's better for you and your unborn child that you do."

"Fair enough," Lexie said, then looked at the time. "I've got to go, I said I would help Alex with a new song he's trying to write."

"He's writing new stuff?"

"Yeah, he has been for the past couple of weeks," Lexie told her. "But he said he's been struggling to get this certain one right, so he's asked me to help him. I don't know how I'm supposed to help, but whatever."

Isabelle chuckled, "Alright. See you tomorow!"

"Bye!" Lexie said, then hung up the phone and went downstairs to find Alex.

He was sat at the kitchen table with papers spread out infront of him, and a pen in his mouth. He looked up when he saw her walk in, and held his arms out for her. She sat on his knee, and he wrapped his arms around her while she picked up one of the sheets of paper.

She read what he had been writing so far, and then looked at him exasperated. "You need help with this? Really? What you've wrote is amazing!" she said in astonishment.

"But it doesn't feel _right_," Alex said.

"How do you expect me to help, then?" she asked confused.

"Give me inspiration? Ideas?" Alex suggested.

She pursed her lips and studied his lyrics some more. "This sounds very... personal," she eventually said.

"Too personal?" he asked.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Just personal. You write about yourself in a very negative way."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"'I can't be who you need me to be, I'm living in the shadow of myself,'" she read out, then tilted her head in thought. "Is this song directed at me?"

Alex blushed, looking nervous. "Yeah it is," he admitted. She stared at him, waiting for him to explain what the words meant. He sighed and said, "It's my way of saying that I'm scared. I'm going to be a dad soon, and I am absolutely terrified. I don't know if I'll be able to live up to your expectations of the kind of parent I'm going to be."

She moved her hand to cup his cheek and said, "I'm scared too. But I've realised that this is what I want. Is it what you want?"

"More than anything," he replied.

"Then there's no problem here," she reassured him. "If you want to be a good dad, then you will be. I have complete faith in you."

Alex smiled slightly. "Thanks," he said. "It's just kind of overwhelming."

"I know it is," she said soothingly. "But everything's going to be fine."

"I think the roles have reversed," Alex said with a smirk. "Usually it's you who's worries too much."

"Maybe it's my pregnancy hormones," she said jokingly.

"Or I'm just turning into a woman," Alex suggested.

Lexie laughed, then leaned her face in closer to his. "Want to prove how much of a man you are?" she whispered.

Alex looked at her, wide-eyed. "Can we do that when you're pregnant?"

"Of course," she said. She then slowly started kissing up and down his neck, and she could hear his breath quicken as she moved her hands closer to the waistband of his jeans.

She just reached the zipper when Alex's hands clamped over her wrists and pulled her arms back. She looked at him confused for a second, then he said huskily, "Upstairs?"

She giggled and grabbed his hand, leading him upstairs. The roles really did appear to have reversed. Usually Alex was the one initiating it.

* * *

><p>Alex was very cheerful the following morning. When Lexie went downstairs, Alex was by the stove making an omlette and whistling happily.<p>

"You're cheerful today," she said, sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Mm," Alex said, looking at her cheekily. "I wonder why that is."

"I can't think of a reason," she said innocently. "Today is just as boring as any other day."

"Well it's mainly because I got laid last night," Alex said, then he paused. "Twice."

"Sounds like you had a great night, then," she said.

"Mm, I did," Alex said with a wink, then he turned back to the stove. "Do you want breakfast?"

She considered this for a moment then said, "Nah, not yet. Izzy's coming round in a couple of hours, so I'm going to go shower."

"Alright," Alex said, then continued whistling. Lexie hopped off the counter and went into the bathroom to get a shower.

When she was done, she got dried and dressed before pulling her damp hair into a ponytail to get it out of the way. Then she bent over to pick her towel off the floor, and almost collapsed to the floor with the excruciating pain she suddenly felt in her stomach.

She gasped in shock as pains racked through her stomach, and she double over clutching her middle, willing the pain to go away. Tears stung in her eyes as she slid down to the floor, unable to even stand up with the pain she was feeling.

She called out for Alex. For anyone. For help. But as the pain started to get worse, she knew what was happening and she knew that she was beyond help. She could sense that it was too late.

* * *

><p><strong>Yep, a cliffhanger because I'm evil like that :D<strong>

**The next chapter should be this weekend :)**


	12. Chapter 11: The Grief

She called out for Alex again, but she didn't know if her voice was loud enough for him to hear her. She sat on the floor with her face pressed against the tiled wall, clutching her stomach, unable to stand up herself. It was pain like she'd never experienced in her life.

"Lexie?" Alex's voice came from the hallway. "Did you shout me?"

"Bathroom," she called out. A few seconds later, Alex walked in looking confused, then he saw her sitting on the floor and he looked panicked.

"Shit, what's happened?" he asked, crouching beside her.

"Cramps," she whimpered. "Not normal ones. I can't even stand up."

Alex looked thunderstruck for a second, then she saw resolve in his eyes. "We're going to the hospital," he said. He put his arms underneath her and picked her up, carrying her out of the room and down the stairs bridal style. He carried her outside and placed her in the car.

When Alex started the car and pulled out into the road, Lexie said, "Alex, I'm sorry. I think I've lost the -"

"You don't know that," Alex interuppted sharply. "Lets just get to the hospital."

She didn't respond. She just sat back in the seat and tried to brace the pain that she was feeling in her body. She knew what was happening to her. She knew from the moment she felt the first sharp pain. She just didn't really want to accept it.

Alex drove fast to the hospital, and when they pulled up in the car park, he turned to her and said, "Can you walk?"

"I don't think so," she said quietly, grimacing as another pain racked through her. It was turning into more of a dull ache now, but every few minutes she got a sharp blast of pain again.

Alex got out of the car, and walked round to her side. He opened the door and picked her up, before closing the door behind him. He walked in silence to the hospital entrance and she thought he was going to stop at reception, but he walked to the A&E.

"Don't we need the maternity ward?" she asked, confused.

"We won't be able to get in," he said. "You don't have an appointment."

She nodded, his reasoning making sense to her. When they got to A&E, he put her down to a seat and went to go talk to the receptionist there. He came back with some forms, and sat next to her.

"They said they'll get to you as soon as possible," Alex said, sounding pissed off. "Hospital service is terrible."

She said nothing, just shifted in her seat so that she was resting her head on Alex's shoulder. She watched as he filled in all her details on the form, and was just about to say something when a doctor came out.

"Lexie Gaskarth?"

Alex looked at her and held out his arms slightly, silently asking her if she needed to be carried. She shook her head determinedly, and stood up, but double over slightly at the pain this caused.

Alex's arms went round her, holding her tight to his body as he handed the forms into reception and they followed the doctor into a room. When Lexie layed down on the hospital bed, the doctor turned to Alex and said, "I need you to wait outside, sir."

"But I'm her husband!" Alex protested. "I have a -"

"Please wait outside," the doctor said again. Alex narrowed his eyes at the doctor, but did as he was asked anyway.

Then the doctor was asking her questions and she answered him almost robotically, just willing for the pain to go away. She wanted it to stop.

The doctor did a scan and some other tests, but did not tell her about what he saw. He noted some stuff down on a clipboard, then stepped outside to call Alex back in. Alex stood beside her and held her hand tightly, while the doctor sat back down and turned to look at her sadly.

"I'm sorry to tell you, but the pain you were feeling was a result of a miscarriage," he told her. "There doesn't appear to be an obvious reason as to why this happened, miscarriages are actually quite common, but the pain you described to be feeling sounded quite servere and it's not normal at that rate. We will ask you to make an appointment in about a weeks time to have some tests to make sure that it's nothing serious."

"In the mean time," he said. "I'll prescribe you some tablets that will hurry the miscarriage along, because it could become a longer process if we do not do so. You will probably still experience cramps for a couple of days, that's normal, as is bleeding, as this is your body's way of ridding itself of the egg. I can give you some information on miscarriages that should help a bit, but if you should experience anything out of the ordinary, then just come back down and we'll check everything out."

The doctor then handed her a box of tablets and she took them silently. She vaguely heard Alex talking to the doctor, then she was led out of the hospital, into the car and before she knew it, she was at home.

She felt numb. Nothing seemed real or important. She had been pregnant for all of 5 weeks, and now she wasn't. It was odd to think of how things could change so drastically in the space of 24 hours. She felt like a failure. She never had that much self-confidence, but this just lowered it drastically. Being pregnant was a natural thing for a woman, and she couldn't even do that right. She had let herself down and she had let Alex down.

She was afraid to say anything to him. Afraid that he would be angry with her. She knew how happy her being pregnant had made him, she didn't think she could bear seeing his reaction to this. He had remained silent and expressionless on the way home, and he remained that way now. But he still held her at his side, that was a good sign, right?

Unless he was just doing that to be sympathetic before turning on her. Before shouting at her. Saying that she was a failure. A disapointment. She wouldn't be angry if he thought or said this; it was true. She had let him down, and that was killing her inside.

Lexie clambered upstairs and climbed under her bed covers. It was only mid afternoon, but she didn't really care. She didn't want to do anything.

Alex hadn't gone upstairs with her, but then she heard him talking on the other side of the door and she listened carefully, as to what was apparently a phone conversation.

"I'm sorry, but you can't," Alex said.

There was a pause then, "No. I'll explain to you later, but you can't come round right now."

There was a slighter longer pause, then Alex said, "Yeah, I will. Bye."

Alex came into the bedroom then, putting his phone in his pocket. He was carrying a glass of water and the box of tablets she had been given.

He came and sat next to her on the bed and handed her the glass and a tablet. "Here," he said softly. "You need to take one, three times a day."

She took the glass in her hand, and then just stared at the tablet. It sounded silly, even to her, but it felt as if taking this tablet would actually make her miscarriage happen. It was the catalyst to her losing her baby quicker than she already was, and she didn't know if she could bring herself to do it.

Alex put his arm around her and said, "You need to take it."

"I can't," she said quietly, tears brimming in her eyes.

"It's better for you that you do," he said gently. "It'll only be worse if you don't."

She looked up into his eyes and saw that he too, was trying to hold back tears. Just seeing how heartbroken this had made him, helped her to make the decision. She wasn't just affecting herself, she was affecting Alex.

Lexie took a deep breath and swallowed the tablet down with some water, before putting the glass on the side table.

"Who was that on the phone?" she asked after a long silence.

"Isabelle," he replied. "I rang her to tell her not to come round. I'll call her back later and explain what's happened if you don't want to."

"Thank you," she said quietly, and then moved to snuggle into his chest. His arms went around her and held her tightly, and he tucked her head under his chin.

"Alex?" she said timidly.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears now starting to fall rapidly down her cheeks. "I've let you down, and I'm so so sorry. I don't know what to -"

She couldn't finish her sentence for crying, and she began to sob into Alex's chest.

"Shhh," he said soothingly. "It's not your fault."

"But it-it is," she protested through her sobs. "I s-saw how happy you w-were with me being p-pregnant, and I've let you d-d-down!"

"Don't cry, Lexie," he said into her hair. "It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay. I promise."

She was going to protest to his words, but she was overcome with cries of sadness again over her unborn child. She had always thought her and Alex would end up having a perfect life, but that didn't appear to be happening. And at this moment, she didn't know how Alex's words could be right; she felt as though nothing would ever be okay again.


	13. Chapter 12: The Distances

Numb. That's all Lexie could feel. She felt as though she wasn't really alive. She couldn't feel anything. The cramps she was suffering from had long gone, or she could have just become immune to the pain. She felt immune from most pain. And emotion. She had spent days crying, unable to stop herself. But now she was out of tears, and her sadness turned to nothingness.

The only thought that kept going through her head was how she had failed to give Alex a child. Having children was a natural thing for a woman, was it not? Then why could she not do it? Why did she have to lose her baby? Why? She was a failure and a disgrace.

She couldn't do anything right. She might as well just stop trying to do anything anymore. What was the point if she was only going to screw it up? She wasn't capable of doing anything.

Having the miscarriage seemed to have pushed Alex away from her, too. He stayed with her during that first day, then he started being more distant. He stopped sleeping in the same bed as her, he opted for the couch instead. They had sort of turned into just roomates, as opposed to husband and wife. But she was thankful that he was being like this. She saw it as her punishment. If she couldn't give him a child, then she might as well not be with him at all. She didn't deserve him; and he deserved so much better than her.

Isabelle came over once. Just once. Lexie pushed her away, too. It wasn't to punish herself though, it was grief and jealousy. Isabelle had managed to have a baby; hers wasn't even planned. How was it fair? She couldn't look at her or talk to her without wanting to break down into tears.

Then one day, Alex came into her room and sat on the edge of her bed, avoiding contact with her. He looked sad. She couldn't really comprehend that. She had lost a baby; not him. She had failed; not him. He did nothing wrong.

"Lexie?" Alex asked softly, as if he was afraid she might get scared if he spoke too loud.

"Yes?" she said in a deadpan voice, while avoiding looking at him directly in the eyes.

"I need to talk to you," he said. She didn't respond, so he continued. "It's been a week since the uh, m-miscarriage and you're supposed to be going into hospital today to have some tests."

"I'm not going," she said straight away.

"You have to," he said and stretched his hand out towards hers, but she quickly pulled it away. "They need to make sure there wasn't a serious reason for your pain."

"I would have thought losing a baby would be a serious enough reason for that pain, if I'm honest."

"You know that's not what they mean," Alex said, his voice taking on a pleading tone. "Please. Go. For me?"

"I can't," she said, shaking her head.

"Why not?"

"I just can't," she said as bluntly as she could, hoping that he would drop it. He didn't.

"That's not a reason," he said. "You know that you need to go. So please, just do it."

"No," she said. "I told you, I'm not going."

She could tell that she was testing his patience; he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lexie, you haven't been out of the house in 7 days. Have you even showered at all?"

She didn't answer him, just looked at him in a challenging way, daring him to get angry at her. She wanted him to get angry. To be angry at her. It would make things easier.

"You can't do this to yourself," Alex said. "You can't do this to _us_. Do you even have any idea of how this has affected me? Or do you not care about me anymore?"

"You're the one that started being distant with me," Lexie argued. "You've been sleeping on the sofa. I didn't make you do that."

"Because I thought -!" Alex started to shout, then he spoke quieter. "Because I thought having some space would do you good. I thought it would help you move forward. But instead you've gone backwards."

"I have not gone backwards," she said defensively. "I've just accepted it."

Alex laughed humourlessly and shook his head. "You have not accepted it. You are not even close to accepting it."

"I didn't mean I have accepted the miscarriage," she said.

"Then what did you mean?" Alex asked, and she could hear the rising anger in his voice.

"I've accepted the reasons behind it. I get it. There's no point trying to pretend anymore."

"Will you stop speaking in fucking riddles?" Alex shouted, having finally snapped. "Why won't you talk to me about this? I'm your husband!"

"Because I can't talk to you about it!" she yelled back, then spoke quieter, mostly to herself. "I don't deserve you at all."

"What do you mean you -" Alex started to say, then stopped. He stood up abruptly and headed for the door, while saying. "I can't deal with this right now. I'm going out."

She didn't say anything. She just watched as the love of her life walked out of her room, and most likely out of her life. Thinking that, she felt a strange satisfaction. She could do something right at least; she could turn people against her, no matter how close they were.

* * *

><p>Lexie had no idea where Alex went that day. He was gone for hours. She thought about what he said during that time and she knew that she was hurting him. But it was better that way. She didn't have the strength to end things herself, but she figured Alex would do it eventually. He deserved somebody who could actually give him the things he wanted.<p>

She did do something productive though; she showered. It made her feel a lot better, both physically and emotionally but she still felt numb. When she had showered, she just went back to laying in her bed.

Later that night, Lexie heard a lot of noise downstairs so she assumed that Alex was home. This was confirmed when Alex came into her room and sat at the end of her bed again, but he didn't say anything.

There was a long silence, then Lexie said "I showered today."

Alex smiled slightly. "Good," he said.

There was a long silence again. "Did you come in here for a reason or?" Lexie finally asked.

"I did," Alex said. "I'm just strugling to find a way to say it."

Lexie's heart quickened. This was it. He had had enough, he didn't want her anymore. He was going to ask for a divorce. Though she was expecting it, just thinking about not being with Alex made her nearly start crying.

"I think you need to see a doctor," Alex eventually said.

"What?" Lexie asked in surprise. If he was breaking up with her, he was going a weird way about it...

"I can't stand seeing you like this anymore, Lexie," he said, his voice sounding hoarse and dry. "I love you too much to see you hurting like this."

"How is a doctor going to help?"

Alex took a deep breath. "You've got depression. I've been talking to a doctor today and he can help you get better."

"You're making me see a therapist?" she asked, her voice turning slightly hysterical. "But you hate things like that! What about your song 'Therapy'? I don't want to see a shrink!"

"I know, Lexie, I know!" Alex said loudly. "I'm fully aware of the song I wrote, thank you. But you won't talk to me about this and I couldn't think of anything else. I'm sorry."

"If I won't talk to you, what makes you think I'm going to talk to a complete stranger?"

"Maybe for the reason that they're a stranger?" Alex suggested, throwing his hands in the air. "I don't know, okay! But I don't know what else to do!"

"I can't," she said, shaking her head furiously. "Please don't make me."

Alex put his head in his hands. "I don't want to make you do this," he said, his voice slightly muffled. "But it is _killing_ me seeing you like this. I've got no other ideas to try and help you. Please just try."

"Why do you even care?" she mumbled.

Alex looked at her as if she had slapped him. "Why do I care? Why do I care?" he spat angrily. "Because I'm in love with you, you fucking idiot! I thought I had made that pretty clear when I married you!"

"You deserve so much better than me, though," she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes.

Alex's expression and voice softened. "Where has all this come from, all of a sudden?"

She shook her head, "I can't," she said quietly. "You wouldn't understand."

Alex shifted so that he was sitting with his legs crossed in front of her, and he reached out and took hold of her hands. This time, she did not object.

"Help me to understand," he said softly. "You're not the only one affected by what happened, you can talk to me."

"I'm so sorry for putting you through this," she said, tears now starting to roll down her cheeks. "I just - I can't do this, I -"

"Hey," Alex said, moving one of his hands to wipe the tears from under her eyes. "Don't cry. You're too beautiful to cry."

That just made her start crying more. "See?" she said. "I don't deserve you! You could do so much better than me."

"But I don't want anyone other than you," he said, looking her straight in the eye.

"Why though?" she said desperately. "I don't understand! You could have any girl you want! But instead you've got me, and I'm just a disappointment. I didn't mean to let you down."

Alex took her face in his hands and said very seriously, "Never think of yourself like that, okay? You're the only woman that I want. Nobody else. You're not a disappointment. You haven't let me down. It wasn't your fault."

"It was though!" she cried. "Isabelle had no problem having a baby. But I couldn't do it! I know how happy you were when I found out I was pregnant, and I just took that away and ruined your happiness."

"Remember what the doctor said?" Alex said. "Miscarriages are quite common. It doesn't mean we'll never be able to have kids. And yes, I was happy. But I can move on from it and look towards the future. It doesn't mean it's the end."

"What if there's something seriously wrong with me though?" she said desperately. "What if there's a reason that we won't be able to have kids?"

"That's why you should have gone to the hospital to have those tests," he said reasonably. "To make sure there is nothing seriously wrong."

"I'm sorry," she said, for what felt like the hundreth time. "I didn't mean to be - I don't want to be - I can't -"

"It's fine," Alex said. "I understand."

There was a long silence, then Lexie said "You're not still going to make me talk to a therapist, are you?"

Alex sighed. "I don't want to do it," he said, then looked at her seriously. "If I send the doctor away, do you promise me that you'll talk to me? Don't shut me out. I want to be able to help you."

She nodded. "I promise."

"You do have depression though, Lexie," Alex said. "The doctor told me that it's natural for women to get it after a miscarriage, but it can be treated -"

"You just said that you won't make me -" she interuppted.

"I didn't say I was going to make you see a therapist," Alex said. "I was going to say that we can get you treatment - anti-depressants. Would you do that?"

"If it's pills or a therapist, I would choose pills," she said. "But I'd rather have neither."

"I know you would," Alex said. "But you need to get better. I can't watch you do this to yourself."

"What if - what if we wanted to try for another baby, though?" Lexie said. "You're not supposed to have anti-depressants if you're pregnant."

"Well we can't do that yet," Alex said. "The doctor said usually you should wait a few months after a miscarriage before trying for another baby. And I guess we'll just see how you cope with these. We'll only start trying again when you're 100% sure that you're ready, okay?"

She nodded and exhaled loudly. "Thank you."

"I've re-scheduled your hospital appointment for tomorow. Will you go?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I'll go."

"Good," Alex said. "And Lexie?"

"Yes?"

"I love you. Never forget that. Hold onto that, okay?"

Tears brimmed in her eyes again as she nodded and said, "I love you, too. I'm so sorry for doing this."

Alex leaned forward and pulled her into a tight hug, and she melted into his chest, feeling more relaxed than she had all week. "Don't apologize," he whispered in her ear. "I'll help you through this, I promise."

* * *

><p><strong>I hate writing sad stuff like this :( But I feel like a bit of drama and sadness is necessary... their relationship was almost too perfect.<strong>

**I might be able to update tomorow, but I can't guarantee anything. I'll try update ASAP though!**

**Thanks for reading & reviewing :)  
><strong>


	14. Chapter 13: The Result

Tests. So many tests. Lexie spent hours at the hospital the following morning, having test after test. Multiple scans, blood tests and finally a fertility test. The last one made her the most nervous, but the doctor insisted that she have it done to make sure that she can actually have children.

Alex stayed by her side the whole time, holding her hand and basically just being her rock. Her support. She had no idea how she managed to get a guy like him, but she was so grateful for how he was helping and supporting her. With him with her, she felt like she might actually make it through this.

She had to wait a day before she got the results of all her tests, so when they got back home, she was just sat in the living room in worry. What if it was bad? She'd rather have found out the results straight away and have any bad news over and done with, but she had to wait.

Alex came in and leaned over the couch, so his face was upside-down in front of hers. "You feeling okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, with a sigh. "I'm just nervous about getting the results."

Alex smiled gently which looked really funny from her point of view. "It'll be fine. I'm sure it's nothing serious."

"I hope so," she said with the attempt of a smile.

"I know what'll cheer you up," Alex said. "Pepperoni pizza and a stereotypical chick-flick."

This time, she really did smile. "That would be great. Thank you."

"I'll order the pizza. You pick the movie," he said and kissed her forehead, before going back into the kitchen.

Lexie got up and went over to the DVD rack, and scanned it with her eyes. After some deliberation, she picked out one of her favourite films; The Proposal. She put the DVD on the coffee table then went upstairs to change into some comfier clothes.

When she came back downstairs, Alex was sprawled out on the sofa and the film was just about to start. He looked up when she walked in and held his arms out infront of him, inviting her to cuddle with him. She bit her lip hesitantly, not sure if she could. It sounded silly, but she wasn't sure if she could be close with Alex like that for a while, not after the miscarriage. It felt wrong, but she wasn't sure why.

He dropped his arms and looked at her, quizically. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said nodding. "I'm just - I don't know if - I feel -"

"It's fine," he said with a gentle smile and sat up, giving her room next to him. She hesitated, then sat down next to him feeling awkward and guilty. He looked at her concerned, "Have you took your meds today?"

She nodded, but he still looked at her as if he didn't quite believe what she was saying. "What's bothering you?"

Lexie shifted uncomfortably, not saying anything. Alex looked at her, eyebrow raised and said, "I can't help if you won't talk to me. You promised me that you wouldn't shut me out."

She let out a long breath and said, "It's not your fault, but I just don't feel like I can be close to you like that since the m-miscarriage. I feel like I've lost that part of myself and I don't know how to get it back."

Alex looked hurt momentarily, but he quickly disguised it. He looked hesitant for a moment, then slowly reached out and laced his fingers with hers. "Is this okay?" he said quietly.

She nodded and then Alex shifted closer to her so that their bodies were touching at each angle and line. When she didn't object to this, he moved his other arm and put if around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She sighed contently, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"See?" he whispered in her ear, making her shiver. "You haven't completely lost that part of yourself. You might not be 100% there, but you're not lost. It will take time, I get that."

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice slightly muffled as she was now leaning into his chest. "I'm doing my best with this, honestly."

"I know you are," Alex said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "You're doing brilliantly as well. Just tell me if I've crossed a line."

She smiled, "You haven't. This is perfect. Just this."

Alex kissed her hair and his thumb stroked the back of her hand, as their attention turned to the film. Lexie knew she wasn't better, she wouldn't be for a while, but with Alex with her she felt as though she was nearly complete again. It would take time for her and Alex's relationship to be back to how it was, but for now, she was content with what they had.

* * *

><p>Twice the phone rang the next morning. Neither call was from the hospital, much to her annoyance. The first call was Isabelle - who she had made up with now - and the second call was Alex's dad. When Alex was on the phone to his dad, it occured to her then that nobody knew what had happened. Isabelle and Jack knew, but as far as she was aware, that was it.<p>

She queried this to Alex, who looked sad when she mentioned it. "Rian and Zack know too, plus the rest of the crew. I didn't tell anyone else."

"What about your parents?" she asked, feeling guilty.

"I haven't told them yet. If you want, I can do it today?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'd rather people were aware of the truth. I don't want people asking me about baby stuff, when, y'know..."

Alex looked awkward for a second, then said "You might get angry at me for suggesting this, but do you think I should post it on Twitter? Because when you came out to see me when you found out you were pregnant, I announced it on stage, and fans will start questioning it and..."

He trailed off, looking at her as if she was going to start shouting. "Why would I be angry? I was thinking of doing that myself, actually. Just... just make sure you tell your parents first."

Alex started to say something else, but then the phone started ringing again. Lexie froze. This is it - or it better be anyway. If it was somebody other than her doctor, she was going to be very angry.

Alex picked up the phone and held it out to her. She took it silently and pressed answer, before putting it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said nervously.

"Hi, is this Lexie Gaskarth?"

"It is," she said.

"It's Dr. Martin from the general hospital, I'm calling about the results of the tests you did yesterday," he said, and she could hear the shuffling of papers in the background.

"Well? Is there anything wrong or...?" she asked and stole a glance at Alex, who was leaning on the kitchen counter watching her anxiously.

"I'm happy to tell you that there is nothing wrong at all," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Your miscarriage appears to just have happened by chance. There is nothing stopping you from trying for another baby now if you felt ready. Your fertility test came back positive; you can have children."

Lexie felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulder. She felt free-er. "Thank you," she said breathlessly. "That's amazing news, honestly, thank you so much."

"It's no problem," he said happily. "We'll post you all the official results so that you can see it for yourself, but everything is well. You have nothing to worry about."

"Thank you Dr. Martin," she said. "Goodbye."

"Bye," he said, then hung up the phone.

Alex looked at her expectantly when she put the phone down. She turned to him and grinned. "Everything's fine!" she said happily. "Nothing wrong with me at all!"

Alex's face lit up happily and he rushed forward and hugged her. She wobbled slightly under the force, but then she regained her balance and hugged him back.

Alex pulled back from her and kissed her forehead. "What exactly did he say?" he asked.

"That the miscarriage was just by chance. He said that we'd be okay to start trying for another baby right now," she told him.

"Right now?" Alex asked surprised.

"Yeah," she said. "But I'm not ready for that again. Not yet."

"Don't worry, we can wait," Alex said smiling.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him. Alex leaned forward slightly, bringing their faces closer together. _Testing the waters_, she thought. He didn't want to do something if she wasn't okay with it. _Well, I'm not going to get back to being myself if I don't try_, she thought.

She took a deep breath and closed the distance between their lips. His lips were warm and damp, and she just missed him so much. He kissed her back gently, hesitantly, until she broke off their contact.

Baby steps. That's what she needed to do. One little thing at a time.

Alex stroked her cheek gently and said, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, and hugged him, leaning into his chest. "I'm getting there."

She heard Alex chuckle lightly and then he rested his head on top of hers. She sighed in contentment. She felt better, but not complete. She wasn't sure if she would ever be back to herself again, but as long as she had Alex, she would never stop trying.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry this chapter is late... and kinda short... and kinda crappy.<strong>

**I've had so much coursework to do lately & I just haven't had the time to do any writing.**

**I'll try and update this weekend, but if not, it'll probably be another week or so.**

**Thanks for reading :)**


	15. Chapter 14: The Trip

Lexie missed her brother. One day while she was at home, she just randomly thought of him. It occured to her that the last time she actually saw him was her wedding when they were in London. They used to talk quite often, but she hadn't spoke to him in months and she _really_ missed him.

As she was feeling productive, she decided to do something about it. So she rang up her brother, and she instantly felt better hearing his voice. But she needed to see him. She could really use his help at a time like this. She was getting better, but she still wasn't quite the same.

So within an hour, they had planned everything. All Time Low were going out for one last tour before the festive season began, and before Alex and Rian's birthdays. Alex was worried about leaving her alone at home, but now she had a solution.

She was going to go to London. She booked the flights without even talking to Alex about it - what exactly could he do about it, anyway? - and she was leaving the same day that the band was leaving. So she had it all worked out; they'd all be going to the airport at the same time, just getting on a different plane. She would be getting back a week before Alex's 28th birthday as well, so she would get to spend about a month with her brother during time which would otherwise be spent alone.

Lexie asked Isabelle if she wanted to go with her, but she declined. She would have preferred to not be on the flight by herself, but she'd have to deal with it if she wanted to see her brother. And she really did.

When Lexie decided to tell Alex, he wasn't very happy at first.

"You want to go to London by yourself? I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that," Alex argued.

"Alex, I'm a grown woman," she scoffed. "Besides, you were the one saying you were worried about going out on tour because of me. Now you don't have to be worried. I'll be with my brother."

"In London!" he said. "What if something happens to you while you're there?"

"Like what?" she challenged. "But if something did happen, it'd only be the same if something happened to me here. There's not much you can do about it. I could just as easily get murdered or something at home y'know."

"Lexie, I don't know if you're-"

"I'm going," she interuppted harshly. "You're not my dad! You can't tell me what to do."

Alex eventually agreed and after she talked to him more about it, he realised how important it was for her to see her brother again. He was then more supportive and he helped her pack her things while he was in the process of packing for tour as well.

She would miss Alex while she was gone, but she missed her brother so much more at that moment. The departure date couldn't come quick enough.

* * *

><p>After eight hours of being sat on a plane, Lexie arrived in London and walked out into the familiar streets. She stood there in the cold, clutching her suitcase while waiting for her brother, wishing that she'd have brought a warmer coat. After living in Baltimore for so long, she forgot how cold England really was, especially at this time of year.<p>

"Lexie!" a voice called. She whirled around and saw Noah standing by what must be his car. Abandoning her suitcase, she set off in a full out run and threw herself into his arms. He wobbled slightly but his arms went around her and she stood there happily in his arms for a few minutes.

"Um, Lexie," Noah said and she let go of him, and looked up at him. He didn't look any different from the last time she saw him. Same brown eyes. Same messy brown hair. Same everything. "You should probably go get your suitcase before somebody steals it."

She looked at him confused for a second, then turned round and realised that he suitcase was just standing outside the airport. She awkwardly shuffled away to get it, and brought it back to the car. Noah put it in the back, while Lexie sat in the passenger seat of the car.

There was a bit of an awkward silence at first when Noah started driving.

"So..." Noah began. "Your hair's longer."

She chuckled. "Yeah. It's about halfway down my back now."

"It suits you," he said.

"Thanks," she replied and then it was silent again.

"I suppose now would be a good time to tell you that I'm engaged," Noah said, as they stopped at a set of traffic lights.

"What?" she said in surprise. "Who? When? How?"

"A girl called Molly. We've been together for nearly 3 years now and a few months ago, I asked her to marry me," Noah said.

"What happened to the girl you were with at my wedding?" she asked.

"Which wedding?" he asked.

She scoffed and hit him round the head. "The one that I didn't go through with."

"Oh. Hariot? Yeah, we broke up a few weeks after that, actually," he told her, but he didn't sound sad. "I found out that she had been sleeping with my best friend for months. Safe to say that I don't talk to either of them anymore."

"Oh my god," she said shocked. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," he said, waving his hand at her. "It was ages ago. I'm over it."

Lexie sighed. "I can't believe I never knew this. I feel so bad."

"Well I'm guessing there's a lot of stuff I don't know about your life as well," he pointed out, then he stopped the car. They were outside a cute little red house. "Lets talk inside."

Noah carried her suitcase inside for her and showed her to her room, as well as giving her a tour of the house. It was a simple three bedroomed house, but it was _really_ nice. Was Molly a decorator or something?

The room she would be sleeping in was the second biggest, and it had a huge white bed in the middle of it. It was a mainly white room, with inricate detail over every piece of furniture and each kind of decorative feature.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Molly's an interior decorator," Noah said as he put her suitcase at the food of the bed.

She smirked, "I figured something like that. Where is she?"

"At work," he said. "She'll be back at about 5."

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. She then looked down at herself and decided she should become a bit more presentable. Molly would be home in a couple of hours and she didn't want to make a bad first impression. "Can I use your shower?"

"Of course you can," Noah said.

She picked up her suitcase and put it on her bed, unzipping it. "Now I just have to find my toiletries in this."

Noah whistled. "I'm just gonna leave you to it."

* * *

><p>After cleaning herself up and ridding herself of what she liked to call 'airplane germs', Lexie went downstairs while Noah was making dinner. Bolognese; one of her favourites.<p>

She smiled and sat down at the breakfast bar, just as Molly walked in. Molly had shoulder length black hair - that she clearly didn't like to be flat as it was backcombed - blue eyes, and she was of an average height. She was wearing overalls with paint splatters over them and she looked surprised when she saw Lexie sitting in her kitchen.

"Oh! You must be Lexie," she said, smiling. "I'm Molly - Noah's fiancee."

"Yeah, hi," she said. "Noah's already told me about you. Congratulations by the way."

"Thanks," Molly said grinning. "I'll talk to you more after I've showered, okay? I'm covered in paint and stuff. It's not very attractive."

Lexie chuckled, "Alright."

Molly left the kitchen and went upstairs. Lexie was silent for a moment then said, "She seems nice enough."

"She is," Noah said. "Molly's amazing, honestly."

"Aw," Lexie said. "Is my brother all loved up?"

"I know you're just taking the piss, but I really am," he said as he added some sauce to the pan.

"Well I'm happy for you," she said honestly.

"Thank you," he replied, then hesitated. "We can talk about whatever it is that's bothering you when Molly goes out later. She offered to stay at her friends on your first night here so we can catch up and stuff."

"She didn't have to do that," Lexie said surprised. Bless her. "Wait, what makes you think there's something bothering me?"

Noah raised his eyebrow at her. "Lexie, it's me you're talking to. I can tell and we're going to discuss it later, okay?"

She sighed, "Fine."

* * *

><p>After Molly had left to go to her friends house, Lexie went to sit in the living room. Noah then walked in holding something in his hands, looking confused. It was her 'happy pills'.<p>

"Why are you taking these?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Did you look through my bag?" she asked feeling angry.

"No!" he said, looking annoyed that she would even think that. "I was tidying up the kitchen and your bag was on the counter, I accidently knocked it off. These fell out. Explain."

Lexie sighed. "I guess I have a lot to tell you about. Sit down."

Noah sat on next to her on the couch and Lexie began to speak. She told him everything that she could think of that was worth knowing. Everything that happened with Jonathan. Anything that she thought he would be interested in, or perhaps find funny. Then she told him about the pregnancy. The miscarriage. The depression.

Her eyes remained dry until she started telling him about how she had a miscarriage. Then tears started rolling down her cheeks, but she continued talking anyway and pushed Noah away when he tried to hug her. She needed to get through the story alone, because it helped her to accept it. She needed to accept that it had happened and put it all behind her, to focus on the future.

Noah didn't interupt her, he just let her speak for which she was thankful for. She felt drained after she had said everything, she didn't think she'd ever spoke so much in her life. But she felt better.

Then she decided to mention something a bit more recent. "I've been feeling so much better recently in myself, but there's kind of a problem with me and Alex..."

She didn't elaborate. She suddenly felt awkward talking about this with her brother, but she could tell him anything, right?

"What kind of problem?" Noah prompted.

She took a deep breath. "It's just, since the miscarriage, I feel as though I don't know how to be close to him in _that_ way and I hate myself for that."

"In what -" Noah began, then realization dawned on his face. "Oh. Well, why don't you feel as though you can be close to him?"

"I don't really know," she admitted. "I just don't know if I can be like that with him anymore. I feel as though I've lost that part of myself and I don't know how to get it back."

"I think you can tell that I feel awkward talking about my sisters sex life," Noah said and she laughed lightly. She felt awkward too, but she needed to say it to somebody. She needed some advice. "But I think if you trust Alex then you have nothing to worry about."

"I do trust Alex," she said confidently. "He's honestly everything to me."

"Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?" Noah said smiling.

"Do you think I'm just being silly?" she asked.

"No," he said earnestly. "I think that you've been through something pretty traumatic and you're having a hard time dealing with it. I can't believe all this has happened to you, though. I feel like such a shitty brother for not knowing or being able to help you through it."

"It's my fault," she said. "I never told you about any of it when I should have done. I promise when I go back to Baltimore, I will talk to you all the time. We're never going to lose contact again, okay?"

Noah didn't say anything. He just smiled and hugged her. Lexie was so glad that she decided to come and see him again. She felt a million times better after talking to him and she honestly just felt so happy in that moment. She felt more optimistic than she had in a long time. She would get better, she was positive of that now. She just had to believe in herself.

* * *

><p>The month Lexie spent in London with Noah, was one of the best months of her life. They went somewhere nearly every day; theme parks, shopping centres, theatres and all the big London attractions that she had seen so much of in her life anyway. She just loved spending time with her brother and she hated the fact that since she had got back with Alex, she practically forgot about him.<p>

She wasn't going to let that ever happen again. She had an excuse to come back to London again though; Noah and Molly had set the date of their wedding for next May. It was about six months away, but her and Alex could come down together.

Lexie also got to spend a lot of time with Molly, and she decided that she really liked her and she could understand why her brother liked her so much, too. She was just so genuine and funny, and Lexie was glad that her brother found somebody as great as her.

The day before her flight back to Baltimore, Lexie went to go visit her mothers grave. The last time she had visited it was before she moved back to Baltimore with Alex and she just wanted to talk to her again. Some people might think it's stupid to talk to her gravestone, but Lexie always believed in life after death and she wanted to believe that her mother was up in heaven with her dad listening.

She sat by her gravestone for hours, talking to her about anything and everything. She didn't even realise how long she'd been there until the sun started to set. So with one last ajustment of the flowers to make sure everything looked neat there, Lexie got up and walked back to Noah's house.

Her, Noah and Molly had a takeaway that night and stayed up watching some films, before Lexie had to finish off her packing and get to bed. Then at 9am the next morning, Lexie had to say goodbye to her brother and get back on a plane to be with her husband again. She had missed Alex a lot while she was in London, but she was glad that she went. She saw it as a holiday and it helped her to get a clearer head about everything.

Now she could only move forward and she promised herself that she would never let herself get in that state again.

* * *

><p><strong>So I realised that Noah had been missing from this story quite a lot, so I decided to give him a bit of story time because I really like him as a character :)<strong>

**I'm not sure when the next chapter will be, but I'll do my best :)**

**Also, I've got an idea for another All Time Low story. I've drafted out my ideas for the first chapter, but I'm not sure when I could get it all typed and posted. Would you guys be interested in another story? It'd be with completely different characters and everything. Let me know!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing :)**


	16. Chapter 15: The Confidence

**Just a *fluffiness* warning for anybody who needs it. I thought a cute chapter was necessary :)**

* * *

><p>Alex's birthday was in two days and Lexie still hadn't bought him anything. She had no ideas whatsoever and she was freaking out just a little bit. She decided to call Jack.<p>

"Hmm, I don't know," he said when she asked him.

"That's very helpful, thanks," she said sarcastically. "Come on, you're his best friend! I need your help."

"You're his wife!" Jack shot back.

"Yeah, well..." she said, trailing off not really knowing what to say. "I feel like I should get him something special because of what's happened recently, y'know? But I have no ideas."

"Are you going to start talking about your deep and meaningful relationship with Alex? Because if you are, I'd rather you talked to Isabelle," Jack said teasingly.

She laughed. "No," she reassured him. "I just need some inspiration."

Jack was silent for a few moments, then he said "I honestly have no idea."

"What have you bought him, then?" she asked.

"A new pair of sneakers that he said he wanted," Jack said indifferently. "I didn't really know myself."

She sighed. "I guess I'll figure something out. Thanks anyway, Jack."

"Text me when you think of something," he said. "I'll go with you to get it if you want."

"I will," she said smiling. "Bye!"

"See ya," he said then hung up.

Lexie put her phone in her jeans pocket, then stood there deliberating for a few seconds. Then she shrugged and went downstairs to find Alex. She found him in the kitchen, getting a bottle of beer out of the fridge. He looked troubled.

"Hey," he said when he noticed her.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah," he said with a small smile. He jumped up so he was sitting on the counter, and took a swig of his beer.

She walked up to him, and sat on the counter next to him. "Hey, you should be all happy and cheerful. It's your birthday in two days."

She heard Alex's breath catch slightly and she looked at him confused, waiting for him to explain. "That's just it," he said with a sigh.

"Your upset that it's your birthday?" she asked, eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"I'm not upset," Alex said. "I... I feel old."

She wasn't sure if she should laugh at that. It seemed funny to her for him to think something like that, but he was obviously very serious. "Alex, you're 28 not 50."

He made an amused sound and said, "I still feel old though. In two years, I'm going to be thirty. _Thirty_. That's pretty scary."

Lexie reached out and took his hand. "Since when does Alex Gaskarth worry over something like getting older?"

"I think me worrying about it just proves that I'm turning into a grumpy old man," he said with a smirk. He was being ridiculous, and Lexie figured that he knew it. But she understood where he was coming from.

She layed her head against his shoulder and he let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her, pulling her closer. She absent-mindly played with the hem of his t-shirt as she spoke: "Honey, you're not old. Honestly. We're the same age, remember?" she said with a grin. "Your face is still wrinkle-free and you don't have arthritis. I think you're fine."

He laughed and Lexie felt his whole body shake with it. The sound of his laugh was like music to her ears. "I guess," he said and kissed the top of her head.

Her heart fluttered nervously. In all honestly, this was the closest she had been in contact with Alex for a while. They hugged. Held hands when they were out. But they rarely kissed or cuddled or anything. She got extremely nervous at the thought of being close to him again, but since her trip to London, she felt better. And now she was really trying to be better.

Alex must have been on the same wavelength, because he said, "You seem a lot happier since you came back from London."

"I am," she said honestly.

"I guess you just needed to get away from here for a while," he said casually, but there was an edge to his voice that Lexie detected. Annoyance, maybe?

"I don't think it's that," she said. "I think it was just seeing my brother again. I was really close to him when I was younger and it was weird not seeing him for so long."

Alex didn't say anything and that worried her. Lexie turned in his arms to look at him in his eyes. His brown orbs were filled with sadness and she wondered what it was making him feel that way. She reached her hand up, and gently caressed the side of his face with her fingertips. As her fingers trailed along his lips, they parted slightly under her touch and she felt his hot breath over her skin.

She leaned her face closer to him and whispered, "What's wrong?"

"So many things," Alex whispered back and the heat of his breath washed over her as he spoke; she shivered, though it wasn't because she was cold.

"Talk to me," she said and suddenly feeling incredibly confident, she ghosted her lips along his cheek, down his neck and back up again.

Alex's breath hitched slightly and he said, "I would, but I'm kinda finding it hard to think rationally right now."

Lexie stifled a giggle and sat back away from him, but kept a hold of both of his hands. "Now talk," she said.

Alex sighed. "Are you really okay being here?"

"What d'ya mean?" she asked, blinking in confusion.

"Well it's just like what you said; you were happier in London," Alex said.

"I never said I was _happier_ in London," she corrected him. "I said I was _happy_. But I'm happy now, happier than I've felt in a long time."

"But you weren't happy here before," Alex said. "What changed?"

"I always have been happy here," she reassured him. "You know why I haven't been right the past couple of months and it had nothing to do with where I was."

Alex looked like he was really struggling to say something, or wasn't sure of how to say something. "So, it's not because of me?"

"What?" she asked in surprise. "Are you asking me if I'm not happy with you?"

As she said that, Alex seemed to realise how stupid his worrying had been. "I just thought... I don't know. You were really happy when you were in London... away from me."

Lexie didn't know whether she should laugh or cry at what he was saying. She squeezed his hands in reassurance and said, "Alex, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love you. And you're asking me that?"

"I'm being an idiot, aren't I?" Alex asked, smiling slightly.

"Yes, you are," she told him. "I'm blissfully happy with you. I promise."

Alex's eyes lit up with happiness and he shifted closer to her, leaning his head towards hers. He tilted her head up with his nose so that their eyes were level and he slowly pressed his lips onto her cheek. She knew that he didn't want to do anything she might be uncomfortable with; she was going to have to make the first move.

Alex had been incredibly patient with her - not to mention unbelievably supportive - since she had the miscarriage. But now she felt better in herself and though she felt as though she couldn't properly be close to Alex, she had to try. He deserved that from her, right?

Summoning up confidence that she wasn't sure she even had, Lexie turned her head so that their lips were touching. That's all it was at first; just a light touch. Then she leaned more forward and put more pressure onto his lips, trying to tell him through this kiss that she was alright. That she loved him. That she felt ready.

Alex didn't respond at first. Was he surprised? Or did he not want her right now? Should she not have made the first move? All these thoughts ran through her head in the few seconds that it took Alex to kiss her back. His lips parted slightly under hers and he kissed her back; tenderly and lovingly. His hands released hers and moved so they were holding her waist, pulling her as close as possible in their position on the kitchen counter.

Lexie moved her hands to lock around the back of his neck, and she pulled on his hair slightly as he started kissing her harder and fiercer. Kissing him again just made her realise how much she _missed_ him. How could she have denied herself of him for all these months? She had been worrying for ages that things wouldn't be the same between them. That she didn't know _how_ to be with him anymore. But as she lost herself in the blissful feeling of his lips, she realised how stupid she had been.

Alex pulled away - far, too soon - and looked at her. Lexie searched his face for any kind of negative feeling, but found nothing. His face was slightly flushed; his lips red and kissable. He was smiling and Lexie almost came undone right then. He was too beautiful for words.

"Are you alright?" he whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

"Mmhm," she said. "Never been better."

There was silence for a moment. Lexie felt Alex's hand move from her waist, then rest on her thigh where he lightly pressed his fingers on her skin. "Do you wanna go upstairs?" he asked quietly, and Lexie noticed that he sounded slightly nervous.

She hesitated for a second then said confidently, "Lead the way."

Alex looked at her surprised, as if he wasn't expecting her to say yes - she couldn't blame him to be honest, with the way she'd been acting previously - but then he laced his fingers with hers and jumped down from the counter. She followed.

She followed him upstairs and into their bedroom. Alex closed the door carefully behind them and then stood infront of her silently, waiting for her reassurance.

She took a deep breath and stood closer to him. Then she pulled on the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, before throwing it carelessly on the floor. She placed her hands on his chest, marvelling at the feel of his skin, as she ran her hands up and down his chest and down his stomach. She ran her fingers along the hem of his boxers and heard his breath quicken as she did so. She felt a strange satisfaction at the effect she was having on him.

Lexie moved even closer to him, so that their bodies were touching at every angle and line. Her hands moved back up to link around his neck and she idly played with his hair. He was watching her carefully; letting her go at her own pace. She would be lying if she said she didn't like being the one to be in control, but right now she didn't want that. She just wanted Alex and she wanted him to be the one to take the control. It said a lot of things; but right now it said that she trusted him.

"Kiss me," she whispered, her face leaning into the crook of his neck.

That did it for Alex. His hands moved up quickly to clutch either side of her face and he kissed her so passionately that she felt her knees turn to jelly. She felt herself being walked backwards and then the softness of the mattress underneath her. She scooted backwards so that her head was on the pillows, and Alex crawled forward so that he was hovering above her.

She roughly pulled him down by his shoulders and kissed him again, needing the feel of his lips on hers. She was disappointed when his lips left hers, but then he began kissing down her neck leaving a trail of fire in his wake, and Lexie really didn't mind that at all.

Alex suddenly stopped and lifted himself up a bit higher above her and looked down at her. "Do you want to use a condom?" he asked, sounding unsure and nervous.

Lexie knew that he was going to ask her this at some point and she knew her answer. "No," she said simply. That simple word spoke a thousand words. She knew that not using one could result in her getting pregnant again, and she was okay with that. She was ready to try for another baby. Yes, she had been through an ordeal but she felt as though she finally came out of it positively, and she was ready to try again.

Alex's eyes widened when she answered him, but then he smiled slowly and sweetly before kissing her again. Things really seemed to finally be looking up. Lexie felt almost like her old self again and in that moment, she had never felt happier.

* * *

><p><strong>So... yeah :)<strong>

**I'll try and update at the end of this week, but if not - Merry Christmas :D**

**Until next time, then :)**


	17. Chapter 16: The Birthday

"What do you want to do tomorow?" Lexie asked Alex, as they layed in bed. It was the night before his birthday, and that day Lexie had dragged Jack to the mall to help her find something to buy him. In the end, she had found nothing that said what she wanted to say. But she had to get him something, so she ended up just buying him a watch. It wasn't exactly cheap, but she felt like she should have got him something more and better, but she couldn't think what.

"You," Alex replied. Lexie scoffed, then picked up her pillow and swatted him round the head with it. Alex laughed and put his arms around her, gazing at her fondly. "I'm serious."

"I know you are," she smirked. "Doesn't mean you're going to get what you want."

"But it's my birthday!" he said in mock horror.

Lexie shrugged. "Oh well."

Alex chuckled then said, "I was just gonna go out for some drinks. You up for it?"

"Hmm, who's going?" she asked.

"Everybody we know," Alex said.

"So you invited everybody else before you invited me? That harsh, Gaskarth," she teased.

"Sorry, I just didn't want you there. You'll ruin my street cred," he said, buffing his fingernails on his shirt.

Lexie laughed, "Oh please. My nan has more street cred than you."

This time, Alex actually looked genuinely offended. "That hurts, Lex. Right here," he said and put his hand over his heart.

Lexie giggled and reached up to link her hand with his. "Nah, I will go. I don't plan on getting drunk though."

"Well then you're stuck with the job of making sure that I don't fall unconcious and choke on my own vomit."

She scrunched up her nose in disgust. "What a lovely image."

"It's beautiful," Alex agreed and leaned his head on hers. "I love you, y'know."

"I know," she said smiling. "I love you too."

"If you didn't then there would be seriously something wrong with you. I mean, look at me. How can you not love me?"

She hit him round the head. "You're an ass."

"A sexy ass," he said with a wink.

She laughed in disbelief. "Just because it's your birthday tomorow doesn't mean you can be an ass."

"It does though," he said with a devilish grin.

Lexie shook her head and said sternly, "Go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am," he said and reached his hand out to switch the lamp off. "Goodnight."

* * *

><p>"So, Alex is completely smashed, huh?" Isabelle said over the loudness of the music in the club. Lexie nodded and laughed, her eyes searching for Alex in the mass of people. And there he was, dancing with Jack while trying to undress him.<p>

"I think he thinks I'm Jack," Lexie mused.

Isabelle tilted her head and studied the situation. "It looks like he's trying to unclasp an invisible bra. So unless there's something Jack isn't telling me, yes, he thinks it's you."

Lexie laughed, "Why is Jack going along with it?"

Isabelle shrugged, "Jack looks just as drunk as he is."

It was now about 11.30 and neither Lexie or Isabelle had much to drink. Isabelle said that she's got a babysitter at home looking after Darcy, and she wanted at least one of her parents to be sober when they got home.

Her and Isabelle just sat on the bar stools for most of the evening, and occasionally took pictures to embarass the guys with in the morning. Lexie never really was much of a party person, and in all honesty, she would rather have not been there. But it was Alex's birthday, so she couldn't exactly refuse to go.

"Did Alex like his present?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, he's wearing it now look," Lexie said and gestured to Alex. He was indeed, wearing it. "I wish I could've got him something better though. I think it's kind of a crappy present."

"I don't know, it looks pretty expensive," Isabelle said.

"It was," Lexie admitted. "But I don't know, I wanted something more sentimental, but I couldn't find anything to give him."

"I'm sure Alex isn't too bothered. He's just probably happy that he's got his Lexie back," Isabelle said with a teasing edge to her voice.

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to tell you..." Lexie said. "A couple of nights ago, me and Alex... well we, y'know..." she trailed off, hoping Isabelle would get it. It might've seen weird to be telling her that, but she told Isabelle everything and she knew that she hadn't been with Alex properly in months.

"You and Alex what?" Isabelle asked, then seeing Lexie's expression, understood. "Oh! That's probably why he's looked so happy tonight."

"That and the vodka," Lexie said.

"So you're better now?" Izzy asked. "I mean, I know you've been feeling better for a while, but you're _really_ better, right?"

Lexie nodded. "I don't feel any of the sadness I felt before. I've moved on from it now."

"Good," Isabelle said. "Because I hated seeing you like that."

"I think me and Alex are going to start trying for a baby again, too," Lexie told her. "The other night, we didn't use anything, so... I'll ask him about it properly, but yeah, I think we are."

"Oh my god, I'm so happy for you!" Isabelle squealed, reaching over to hug her. "You deserve to have your own little family with Alex, after everything you've been through."

"Thank you," Lexie said, as Isabelle hugged her.

"Hey Izzy," came a drunken voice from behind her. "Hands off my woman."

Lexie unwound her arms from around Isabelle, to see Alex standing there pouting. Isabelle stifled a laugh. "Sorry, Gaskarth. She's all yours." And with a wink, Isabelle got up and presumably went to go find Jack.

Alex stood infront of her and positioned himself in between her legs, where his hands went around her waist. "My head feels funny," he whined.

"That's probably because you've pretty much cleaned this bar out," she said as she brough her hands up around his neck.

"Jack kissed me earlier," Alex mumbled.

Lexie laughed. "Well you _were_ trying to undress him on the dance floor."

"Was I?" Alex asked confused.

"Yes," she told him. "But don't worry, I'm not bothered."

"But I've cheated on you," Alex said.

"You kissed _Jack._ You always have gay moments with him, it doesn't bother me. Just as long as you don't leave me for him," Lexie smirked.

"I've cheated on you before though," Alex blurted out. Then his eyes widened as he realised what he just said.

"Um, what?" Lexie asked, blinking in confusion. Her arms dropped from around his neck and she stared at him, waiting.

"I shouldn't have told you that," Alex groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"No," Lexie said, dragging out the word. "Continue."

Alex looked as though he wanted a hole to appear in the ground and swallow him up, but he painfully replied. "It was the first tour after Isabelle found out she was pregnant. We were out in a club and I got really drunk. I ended up hooking up with this girl."

Lexie stared at him, mouth hanging open. She couldn't believe it. He had cheated on her. Yeah, it was years ago, but it still happened. And he didn't even have the courtesy to tell her!

"It didn't mean anything, Lexie!" Alex told her, pleading. "I don't even remember her name!"

"Oh, well that makes it a lot fucking better then doesn't it," she spat. She jumped down from the barstool and tried to walk away, but Alex grabbed her arm.

"Please don't go," he begged, looking like he was about to cry. "It was years ago. I - you weren't supposed to find out. It doesn't mean anything to me!"

"It still happened," she said quietly, and pulled her arm out of his grip. "I'll see you at home."

"Lexie, please," he pleaded, as he started to follow her outside. "Don't leave. I just got you back."

Alex's voice cracked on the last part, and she fought the urge to burst into tears. "I said I'll see you at home, Alex. I can't deal with this right now."

Then leaving him standing there dumbfounded, she climbed into her car and drove home, letting the tears spill out all the way there.

* * *

><p><strong>Ooh, drama! I don't know what made me write that, but the idea just came to me...<strong>

**Anyway, I apologize for the long delay in updates. I've been so busy through Christmas, and stuck with coursework all month that I haven't had time to do any writing. Plus, I met All Time Low on Thursday! And I'm meeting them again tomorow! It's safe to say, I'm excited :D**

**I'll try my best to update as soon as I can, but I can't give you any dates, sorry. Until next time, though! Xo.**


	18. Chapter 17: The Conflict

When Lexie woke up the next morning, she was first very confused. Her hands felt the bedsheet beside her, and she felt puzzled as to why it was cold. Then she remembered what Alex had drunkenly told her last night and her confusion turned to anger and betrayal.

She was just thinking about where Alex was, when she distantly heard the sound of the shower from down the hall. So she assumed he either slept on the couch, or stayed over at someone's house. Probably Jack's.

Lexie lay there for a while, deliberating what she was going to do. Then about 10 minutes after she heard the shower being shut off, she got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and a towel and went to the bathroom to shower. She did it as quickly as she could, then went back to her bedroom and looked for a bag in the cupboard.

She found a decent sized overnight bag, and then began packing her essential things into it. Then as she was putting her make-up bag into it, Alex walked in. He was fully dressed but his hair was still damp from the shower. He looked at what she was doing, and his mouth fell open slightly and he looked so miserable that Lexie almost changed her mind. Almost.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice sounding rather hoarse.

"I'm going to stay with Isabelle," she told him, as she opened one of her drawers and got a pair of jeans out.

"Lexie, please don't do this," Alex pleaded, running his hands through his damp hair.

"I'm only going for a few days," she said, trying to sound as if she wasn't upset. She really hoped that he didn't hear the shaky edge to her voice.

"You don't have to go anywhere!" Alex said desperately, walking closer to her. "If you'd please just give me a chance to -"

"You know what I realised?" Lexie cut in. When Alex didn't say anything, she continued. "You said it was the tour right after Isabelle found out she was pregnant. We had pretty much just got back together at that point, meaning that you couldn't have loved me that much at all, could you?"

"Of course I loved you!" Alex said. "I always have, you know that."

"Obviously not enough to stay faithful," she argued hotly. "I left my fiance at the altar for you. I gave up my job for you. I moved countries and left my family behind for you! Then while I'm at home looking after my pregnant best friend, you're out having sex with some slut you met in a nightclub!"

"Lexie, I'm sorry," Alex said. "I'm so incredibly sorry. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. I was_ drunk_. I didn't know what I was doing, and I -"

"Fucked up? Cheated on me?" Lexie supplied when Alex struggled to finish his sentence. Then seeing Alex's distraught expression, she felt guilty for treating him like this. But he deserved it, right? "You should have told me."

"I know I should have, but I was terrified that you would leave me again," Alex said. "I'd only just got you back. Lexie, please forgive me."

"Hang on a minute," Lexie said, realising something else. "You didn't speak to me for days when I told you about seeing Jonathan before the wedding. Now you're asking me to forgive you, when what you did was ten times worse than what I did!"

"That's completely different," Alex argued. "You were in danger with Jonathan!"

"It's not like I cheated on you with him. I would never cheat. Never."

"Bullshit. You can't exactly judge me for cheating when you've done it yourself," Alex said scoffing.

"What? When?"

"With me," Alex told her. "When you were still with Jonathan and you came on tour with us. You slept with me the last night of tour. The week before your wedding."

Lexie gaped opened mouth at him, appalled. He was really going to use that to try and get to her? "I can't believe you're bringing that up," she said, shaking her head in disgust. "I didn't cheat on Jonathan with some random guy I met, it was with _you._ The guy who I ended up marrying. The love of my life. You can't exactly say I shouldn't have done it, when if I didn't, we might not be together now."

Alex didn't say anything for a few moments, obviously realising that she had a point that he couldn't argue with. Figuring he wasn't going to say anything else, Lexie put the last item in her bag and zipped it up, ready to go. She had just put her jacket on when Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him, looking at her intensely. He had tears in his eyes.

"Please don't go," he said, squeezing his eyes shut and re-opening them again, tears slowly escaping.

Lexie sighed and pulled her arm out of his grasp. She moved her hands to hold either side of his face, and she gently wiped away the tears under his eyes. "I'm not leaving for good. As if I could stand to live without you," she said gently, smiling slightly. "I just need a bit of time, okay?"

"Will you call me tonight?" Alex asked quietly.

She didn't answer, she didn't want to make a promise that she might not keep. Instead she just hitched her bag up on her shoulder and left, leaving Alex standing there alone, heartbroken. Why did nothing ever seem to go right?

* * *

><p>As Lexie got to Isabelle's house, she realised that she never actually asked Isabelle if she could stay over. It didn't matter though, she knew that Izzy would let her.<p>

Lexie opened the door (Izzy had given her a spare key ages ago) and just as she stepped inside, she could hear raised voices from the living room. Intrigued, she closed the door quietly and listened.

"- believe you knew!" Isabelle yelled, clearly very angry about something.

"Why are you so surprised?" Jack argued back. "Alex tells me everything."

"But you never told anyone!" Isabelle shouted. "Instead, you stood there and watched Alex make all these committments to Lexie, as she was completely clueless. How could you do that?"

"Alex is my best friend, what was I supposed to do? He made me promise not to tell, and I keep to my promises."

"You can't keep something like this a secret," Isabelle said. "Didn't you feel guilty at all for knowing?"

"It wasn't my place to tell her," Jack said reasonably. "If Alex didn't want her to know, then I wasn't going to do anything to make him angry at me. Lexie's my friend, but Alex will always be my best friend."

There was silence for a few moments, then Isabelle said; "I feel so bad for her. She's just gotten over her miscarriage, and now she finds out this? She never seems to catch a break."

"I know," Jack said with a sigh. "But don't get involved in this, okay? Let them work it out."

"She's my best friend," Isabelle said. "I can't just do _nothing._"

"Well you have to," Jack said. "You might just end up making it worse. They're strong together, they'll get through it."

"I hope so," Isabelle said glumly. "I might call her and see how she's doing."

Deciding now would be a good time to announce her presence, Lexie opened the door to the living room. Isabelle and Jack looked at her in surprise, but they both smiled.

"No need to call," Lexie said. "I'm here."

"What are you doing here?" Isabelle asked.

"I'm hoping that I can sleep on your couch for a few nights," Lexie said, giving them a look which clearly said, _I know that you know why._

"Why aren't you staying with Alex?" Jack asked.

"Because I just can't be near him right now," she said. "I need some space. I need some time to think."

"Well of course you can stay," Izzy said, standing up and hugging her. "I'll get some blankets out for you and stuff tonight."

"Thank you," Lexie said sincerely, pulling out of the hug.

"I'll leave you guys alone to talk and stuff," Jack said awkwardly. "I might go and see Alex."

Lexie didn't say anything at first. Then she said, "I'm not angry at you, by the way. For not telling me about what Alex did. I'd probably be the same if I was in your position."

Jack nodded, then said, "I'm really sorry though, Lexie."

"It's fine," she said sighing. "It's not your fault."

Jack hesitated for a moment, then said; "I want you to know something though. The morning after it happened, Alex was completely distraught. He wouldn't stop showering all day, he kept saying that he wanted to get the 'whore stink' off him. He was disgusted with himself and terrified that you would find out. I've known Alex for a long time, and I don't think he's ever regretted anything more."

Lexie blinked in surprise, and stared at him dumbfounded. What exactly did she say to that? Jack seemed to understand, because he just nodded to her and left. Now she was really confused.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Lexie and Isabelle were sat under the blankets on the sofa-bed and having a bit of a heart-to-heart. Jack had taken Darcy out for the evening, and said that he'll stay with her at his parents house, to give them time to have a 'girly catch up.' He didn't mention anything about talking to Alex that day, though.<p>

"I just feel so conflicted right now," Lexie said sighing. "On one hand, I feel angry and hurt and betrayed over what he did. But on the other, I feel bad for making such a big deal out of it. You should have seem him this morning, Izzy. He was so miserable. Am I over-reacting?"

"I don't know," Izzy said. "I mean, it was years ago, right? But it still happened and he didn't tell you... but then think about what Jack said, how he was after it had happened. How much he regretted it."

"This is what I mean!" Lexie said. "I don't know what to do. I want to forgive him, but then I feel as if I'm letting him off too easy. I feel dirty as well. He'd slept with another woman and then he'd just come back to me. I know that he's obviously had a lot of girlfriends before, but the thought of some drunk slut having her hands all over him... his hands being all over her... it makes me feel sick."

"Do you know who the girl was?" Isabelle asked.

Lexie shook her head. "He told me he couldn't even remember her name. Now that makes me feel bad for her, as if he's just used her for sex and then thrown her aside."

"Hey, don't feel bad for her!" Isabelle scolded. "You need to stop thinking about all these details. Just think about what you're going to do now."

"But I _can't_," Lexie whined. "I don't think I could make a proper judgement on this unless I know more about her, but I'm obviously not going to find out anything."

"Lexie, honey, don't think about this girl," Isabelle told her. "Focus on yourself. Think about you and Alex. What are you going to do?"

"I don't think I could ever really forgive him for it," Lexie said honestly. "But I can try and get past it. I mean, I trust Alex with my life. I do trust that he wouldn't do anything like that if he was sober. "

"I don't think he would do anything like that again even if he was drunk," Isabelle said. "I think the only danger with him being drunk is him getting off with Jack."

Lexie laughed, despite herself. Then she sighed. "I feel like I should be angrier, but I just don't feel it. I don't really have it in my heart to be truly mad at him. Even with this."

"Then I think that's your answer," Isabelle said smiling.

"I'm not ready to talk to him quite yet though," Lexie said. "I'm gonna need a few days."

"That's -" Isabelle started to say, but she was cut off by the sound of Lexie's phone ringing. She picked it up and glanced at the screen. Alex's name was there. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. That was... odd.

"Are you going to answer it?" Izzy asked.

Lexie sighed. "No," she said and just let it ring.

There was silence for a moment, then Isabelle said; "I'll go get us some ice cream and we can watch a movie."

Lexie smiled, "That sounds great."

Isabelle went into the kitchen, and Lexie's phone started ringing again. She groaned, looking at the screen and expecting to see Alex's name, but it was a number she didn't recognise. Curious, she answered.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hello, is this Lexie Gaskarth?" a womans voice said.

"Yes, why?" Lexie asked, confused.

"Alex Gaskarth is your husband, correct?"

"Yes," Lexie said again. What the hell was this? "Why?"

"I'm calling from Baltimore General Hospital," the woman said. Lexie's heard rate increased dramatically in panic. "Your husband was in a car crash and has been taken to A&E. Are you able to get here?"

"What?" she asked in shock. "Is he alright? When did this happen? How? What's going on?"

"He's not in the best condition right now, but he is going to be alright," the woman reassured her. "He's been slipping in and out of conciousness for the past ten minutes, and he's been calling out for you. He told us you're his wife, but you might not answer if he called you."

"So it was you who called from his phone?"

"Yes, that was us," the woman said. "Since you didn't answer, we tried a different phone."

Lexie pinched the bridge of her nose and looked up when Isabelle walked in. She was standing looking at her confused. "Where is he now?" Lexie asked.

"In the emergency room," the woman said. "Can you -"

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Lexie said and hung up the phone. She jumped up from the couch and ran for her shoes.

"Lexie, what's happened?" Isabelle asked worriedly.

"Alex has been in a car crash, he's in the emergency room," Lexie told her as she quickly grabbed her jacket. "I'm going down to the hospital."

"Oh my god! Do you want me to come -" Isabelle said.

"No, it's okay!" Lexie said hurriedly. "I'll call you later!"

Lexie didn't wait for a reply, she just dashed out of the house and jumped into her car. She probably broke a few speeding limits on her way to the hospital, but she didn't care. Right now, nothing else mattered but Alex. He needed to be okay. She needed him to be okay. She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I'm pretty mean... sorry :P<strong>

**I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but I'll try my best to make it as soon as possible :)**


	19. Chapter 18: The Accident

Lexie got to the hospital in record time and literally ran across the carpark, inside and to the reception desk, startling the woman behind it.

"M - My - husband," Lexie panted. "Al - Alex Gaskarth. Where is he?"

The receptionist seemed a bit alarmed, but she searched something on her computer and said, "Yes, he came in about half an hour ago. He's in A&E."

"Is he going to be okay?" Lexie asked desperately.

"I don't know, I'm sorry," the woman said. "You'll have to enquire at A&E."

Lexie huffed in anger and rushed off towards the A&E department. It was fairly quiet, and Lexie's eyes frantically searched round the room, looking for him. She was just about to ask one of the nurses where he was, when a door opened and a nurse wheeled him in on a hospital bed; he was asleep.

She scurried over to him and followed the nurse wherever she was taking him. He had his right arm in a sling, and his face was bruised, but other than that, he looked fine. But what if there was something else? Something she couldn't see?

"Is he going to be okay?" Lexie asked the nurse, who's nametag read 'Kate'.

"He's going to be fine," Kate said kindly. "Let me just wheel him to a room and I'll explain to you what's happened."

"Okay," Lexie breathed in relief, and gently brushed the hair out of his eyes. He stirred a little bit in his sleep, but didn't wake. He looked sad, even in sleep.

Kate wheeled Alex into a room, and then a couple of minutes later she came back out to talk to her.

"What happened? How did he crash?" Lexie asked.

"He was under the influence," Kate told her. "We found a half-empty vodka bottle in his car, and when we did a blood test we found high levels of alcohol in his system."

"The idiot," Lexie muttered.

Kate smiled slightly, "He crashed his car into a lampost. We don't know why; we'll have to check the CCTV footage from the area he was in. But a resident nearby heard the collision and called him an ambulance."

"So, what's the... damage?" Lexie asked, feeling stupid but not sure how to phrase her question.

"His right shoulder was dislocated, but we managed to get it back in place; he'll have to wear that sling for a few weeks," she told her. "He also has some cracked ribs, but we've taped them up too. He's going to have to take it easy for about a month or so, it's going to be sore but we can prescribe him with some painkillers. He also needed stitches on a deep cut on his forehead, but in time the scar there will fade. It won't be noticeable."

"But, his face is all bruised too," Lexie pointed out.

"Bruises fade naturally, that's nothing to worry about," Kate said.

"When can he come home?"

"If he's feeling up to it, he could leave as early as tomorow," Kate told her.

Lexie sighed. "Thank you."

"You can stay with him," Kate said. "I'll be back in about an hour to check his vitals."

Kate walked down the corridor, and out of sight. Taking a deep breath, Lexie walked into Alex's room and took a seat by his bed. She reached out and laced her fingers with his. His face looked so sore, but Lexie reminded herself that it could have been a lot worse. She was just eternally thankful that he was okay. Her Alex was going to be okay.

While she sat there waiting for Alex to wake up, Lexie had time to think over a lot of things. It was in this time that she realised something; life was far too short, and you shouldn't waste it being angry with the person you love. She started thinking about if something more serious had happened. If she had lost Alex forever. The last time she had seen him, they had argued. She didn't think she could bear not seeing Alex again, especially if their last conversation was not a pleasant one.

Lexie didn't even realise she was crying until she heard a hoarse voice say, "Hey, why are you crying?"

She didn't answer him; instead she just flung herself over him in an awkward hug with him laying down. She immediately flinched back though when she heard him wince in pain. "Oh my god, I'm sorry," she said, putting her hands over her mouth.

"It's okay," Alex said, trying to push himself into a sitting position.

"I was so worried," she said, wiping her tears from under her eyes. "What the hell were you playing at?"

Alex shifted uncomfortably, avoiding her eyes. "It could have been worse," was all he said.

Lexie took hold of his hand again, "Don't avoid my question," she said sternly. "Why were you drinking so much? Then going driving? What the hell?"

Alex sighed. "I was depressed, okay? You had left. I hated myself for what I did. So I decided to drink and it got a bit out of control."

"You went on a drinking binge because of me?" she asked, her voice getting higher.

"I thought you were going to leave me," Alex said quietly. "I thought you hated me and I didn't know what to do."

"Alex honey, I'm not going _anywhere_," she promised him, squeezing his hand. "I could never hate you. I was just in shock, and hurt and I didn't really know what to do, myself. I just needed some time to think."

"I cannot tell you how sorry I am," Alex said, leaning his head back on his pillow. "For cheating on you. For this. For every fucked up thing that I've done."

"It's fine, I understand," she said softly. "But Alex... you could have _died!_ Please promise me that you'll never do anything like this again."

"I can't promise that I'll never drink again..." Alex said, then sighed. "You know I didn't mean this to happen. Like I want to have a bloody fucked up shoulder and cracked ribs."

"Just be thankful that's all you came out with," Lexie said. "Plus the stitches on your forehead."

"I've got stitches on my forehead?" Alex asked in surprise. He let go of her hand to feel for the stitches. "Fuck."

"Nobody will notice, it's behind your fringe," she said smiling gently.

"We were supposed to be going on tour in January," Alex said grimacing. "I doubt I'm even going to be able to play my guitar."

"It's not for another month though," she reminded him. "I think you'll be alright by then. The nurse told me that you're supposed to 'take it easy' for a few weeks, though."

"Does that mean that you're going to dress up as a sexy nurse and look after me?" Alex asked suggestively.

"If you're lucky," Lexie said grinning.

Alex tried leaning forward, but he winced and layed back down on his bed. "I can't even lean over to kiss you, my ribs hurt too much."

Lexie smirked and leaned over him, then gently pressed her lips onto his. His lips parted under hers and they kissed lazily for a bit, until Alex tried lifting his right arm to hold her waist and he recoiled in pain. "Dammit," he muttered.

Lexie sat back down and held his hand again. "I forgive you, y'know. For cheating on me. I don't know if I'm being stupid being this forgiving, but I don't really care. It was years ago, and you're with me, right? You being in this accident made me realise how short life is, and I don't want to waste any of it not being with you."

Alex looked at her wistfully, "You know that I'd never do something like that again, right? I can't afford to lose you."

"I know," she said, squeezing his hand. "I trust you."

"How did I ever get to be with somebody as amazing as you?" Alex asked.

"I think I'm the lucky one, to be honest," Lexie said.

"Y'know, when you left Baltimore all those years ago, I never thought I'd see you again," Alex said. "I mean, everytime we were in the UK, I always looked for you but I never found you. But then you just appeared at one of our shows and I thought I could get you back..."

"But I was engaged," Lexie said when Alex trailed off.

"Yeah, you were engaged," Alex continued. "It kinda felt like the world was playing some kind of cosmic joke on me. Like 'Hey, here's the girl you're in love with and who you haven't seen for years, but now you still can't have her because she's with somebody else'. And that fucking sucked."

"It was hard for me too," Lexie said. "Seeing you again. It was confusing and difficult being on that tour with you. I was conflicted. I knew that I still loved you, but I was engaged to Jonathan and I didn't know what to do."

"What made you change your mind?" Alex asked, looking mischevous. "Was it the amazing sex we had the night before you left?"

Lexie laughed. "Of course," she said sarcastically.

"Well I think you made a very good choice," Alex said smugly.

Lexie laughed. "I'm inclined to agree. I think even if I had married Jonathan, it wouldn't have lasted long. You were my first and only real love."

"You were mine, too," Alex said and then it was silent for a few moments. "We're being really lovey-dovey right now."

"I know, it's disgusting," Lexie said, scrunching up her nose.

Alex laughed, and he sounded so happy despite everything that's just happened. "Now would be the time that I go to kiss you, but I can't sit up right so you're going to have to do it again."

Lexie smiled and leaned down to kiss him again. His lips parted underneath hers and she felt his hot breath fan over her skin. She sighed in contentment and gently ran her hands over his chest and over his ribs. "Does this hurt?" she whispered.

He shook his head, and with his good arm, pulled her down so she was on top of him. But she balanced herself carefully so she didn't hurt him. He kissed her tenderly and lovingly, and just as his hand started to go under her shirt, the sound of a door handle startled them both and Lexie quickly sat down, pulling her shirt down and trying to disguise her blush.

Kate came back in the room, completely oblivious to what she had just interrupted, and pulling a machine along with her. "Ah, good. You're awake," she said. "I need to take your blood pressure."

"We'll continue this when we get home," Alex said, so quietly that only Lexie could hear. She giggled, feeling a lot happier than she did a few hours ago. Things were going to be okay.


	20. Chapter 19: The Questions

"Matt's pissed off at me," Alex announced as he walked in the bedroom. Lexie paused in the act of doing her hair and put her brush down.

"You told him about your shoulder, then?" she asked.

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p'. "He went on a big rant about how I shouldn't be so reckless, that I should have learned to be more responsible with drinking, and then concluded that if I can't play my guitar properly by the time tour starts, then he was going to find a new singer."

"So he's not happy, I take it?" Lexie sniggered.

"Hey, it's not funny!" Alex said pouting. "What if I actually can't play my guitar?"

She sighed and got up, standing in front of him. She gently ran her hands over his injured shoulder. "You're going to be fine," she reassured him. "It might still hurt now, but tour doesn't start for another month. You've got plenty of time to recover."

"But this stupid sling is annoying," he complained.

"Deal with it," she said, going back to doing her hair.

"Why are you getting all dressed up?" he asked, puzzled.

She rolled her eyes. "Did you also get amnesia in this accident?"

"I don't know, I can't remember," he smirked.

"It's Rian's birthday today, remember? We're all going out for dinner."

"Oh!" he said. "I forgot it was today."

"Mm," she said, as she hairsprayed her hair. "No excess alcohol for you though."

"I know," Alex said sighing.

* * *

><p>"Alex!" a voice called as he and Lexie stepped out of the car, and headed to the entrance of the restaurant.<p>

Alex hadn't actually seen anybody other than Lexie since the car accident. Infact, they didn't even tell anybody till yesterday. Isabelle and Jack knew, because Isabelle was there when Lexie got the call, but other than that, there was nobody.

Jack came running towards them and threw himself onto Alex, who only managed to keep his balance because he had is arm around Lexie.

"Woah, Jack!" Alex said. "Bad shoulder."

Jack stepped back. "Sorry, dude. But you're a fucking idiot. You're lucky it wasn't worse."

"I've already given him that speech," Lexie said. "So has Matt."

"You have one tolerant wife," Jack said, patting Alex on his other shoulder.

"I know," Alex said with a small smile.

* * *

><p>"Guess what?" Isabelle said excitedly, when they were in the bathrooms at the restaurant.<p>

"What?" Lexie asked, as she washed her hands.

"Me and Jack are going to try for another baby," Izzy said happily.

"Oh my god, really?" Lexie said surprised. "But you guys aren't even married, or anything."

"So?" Isabelle said. "I'm not really that bothered about marriage, to be honest. Neither is Jack. If we did get married, it'd only be a small service kind of thing."

"Well what made you decide to have another kid?"

"I don't really know," Izzy said, twirling her hair absentmindly. "Jack just asked me randomly a couple of days ago, and I thought, why not? We can't leave Darcy as an only child, she's gonna get bored."

"Aw, well I'm so happy for you!" Lexie said, hugging her best friend.

"Oh my god!" Isabelle said, suddenly. "I just thought; you and Alex are going to start trying again, right? What if we were both pregnant at the same time? That'd be so cool!"

"I'm not sure if 'cool' is the right word," Lexie said with a nervous chuckle. "We'll see what happens."

* * *

><p>"Do you wanna go on holiday for Christmas?" Alex asked her randomly when they were driving home.<p>

"Why?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Dunno. I just thought it'd make a nice change. Give us a bit of a break."

"Sure, why not?" she said smiling.

"I'll look online for places to go when we get home," Alex said, smiling as well.

It was silent for a few minutes, then Lexie nervously said "Alex?"

"Yeah?" he said, turning to look at her.

"We haven't really spoke about it properly, but..." she trailed off. "D'ya wanna try for another baby?"

Alex hesitated before saying, "Do you feel ready to do that?"

"Yes," she said confidently.

"Well then I would like nothing more than to make babies with you," Alex said, winking in her direction.

Lexie laughed, "No plural. Not babies. Just baby."

"You don't know that," he said, raising his eyebrow as he parked in the driveway. When Lexie didn't reply to that, he looked at her and said, "When do you wanna start?"

"Your call," she said, indicating to his shoulder. "How's the pain?"

"I'll have you know that I have a very large pain threshold," he said. "It doesn't hurt at all."

"So if I was to punch you in the shoulder, it wouldn't hurt?" she challenged.

"No," he said, but sounding less sure of himself. He cringed back a bit when she raised her arm.

"I'm not actually going to do it," she said laughing.

"I knew that," Alex said, then stepped out of the car. She got out too, and followed him to the front door.

"Seriously this time, how's the pain?" she asked.

"I can deal with it," he said quietly, staring into her eyes.

"You sure?" she asked.

He put both of his arms around her - Lexie noticed that he didn't wince, either - and lightly started kissing her neck. He then moved his head up."Positive," he whispered, sending shivers through her entire body.

She slowly took the keys out of his hand, and unlocked the door. "Lead the way," she said, feeling a bit flustered.

He didn't go inside though. He clasped her face in his hands, and kissed her fiercely. She whimpered quietly but wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Alex moved his arms to go around her waist, and walked her backwards into the house, shutting the door behind him with his leg. He did this all without breaking the kiss.

"I love you," he whispered, breaking contact with her lips for a second before kissing her again.

"Mm," she said, feeling slightly dazed. "I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>Filler chapter, sorry!<strong>

**Okay, so I have the prologue and first chapter written out to another ATL fanfic. Are you guys interested in reading it? I might post it tonight if you want me to!**

**This particular story doesn't have that many chapters left in it, 5 at the most I think. It's been a long process, but it's been fun :)**

**Until next time!  
><strong>


	21. Chapter 20: The Video Call

Lexie and Alex didn't end up going away for Christmas, but she didn't mind that much. They spent the day at Alex's parents house instead. It was now New Years Eve, and Jack and Isabelle were having a party.

Lexie and Alex's relationship was completely back to normal, if not better, now. Alex was recovering quickly from the accident, meaning that he was going to be okay for tour next month. Which is good, as they were on tour pretty much non stop from January to March. Safe to say, Lexie wasn't completely thrilled about that, especially as the tour was in Europe. But what could she do about it? It would be selfish for her to ask him to stay at home.

One thing that made her really happy though, was the fact that they were trying for a baby again. Now she had no idea how long it would take, but she was just happy to be back at that place in their relationship. Everything with the miscarriage was behind them, and they were both looking towards the future.

At about 8pm on New Years Eve, Lexie and Alex set off for Jack's house walking hand in hand. She was dressed in black skinny jeans, a red halter top and red heels, with Alex's jacket over her shoulders to keep the chill off her. Plus, Alex didn't have his sling off yet, so he couldn't wear his jacket properly anyway.

Alex had promised that he wouldn't drink a lot tonight. She didn't even have to ask him; he was taking the accident a lot more seriously than she originally thought, and he apparently wasn't taking any risks.

So when the countdown to midnight started, they were both sober and pretty happy in each others arms. As midnight struck, Alex leaned down and kissed her passionately.

"Happy new year," she said breathlessly, as he broke the kiss.

"Lets make this our year," he said, tightening his hold on her. "I think we deserve it."

* * *

><p>During the bands absence, Lexie opted to stay at Isabelle's house so she wasn't alone, only going home every couple of days to check on it and clean it up a bit.<p>

Lexie also decided to spend a bit more time with Darcy, she was her Godmother and Lexie was planning on becoming a parent herself. It made sense to spend more time around kids.

"You knocked up yet?" Isabelle asked casually as they sat on a park bench, watching Darcy run around happily.

"Way to put it nicely," Lexie said laughing. "And no, not yet. You?"

"Nope," Isabelle said. "I'm not in a rush though."

"I am," Lexie admitted. "I kinda wanna hurry up and get pregnant so I can be a parent already."

"You're gonna love it," Isabelle said beaming. "I mean, sure, it's not easy. But Darcy is the best thing that's ever happened to me. She's my whole world."

"What about Jack?" Lexie teased.

"Nah, I don't care about Jack," Izzy joked. "I'm just using him to give me children."

"Harsh," Lexie commented.

"You know what I've noticed?" Isabelle said.

"What?"

"We're all grown up," she said giggling. "It's weird, I never thought that I'd settle down and have kids. But here I am, sat with my best friend watching my daughter run around like a loonatic... she must get that from Jack."

Lexie laughed, but nodded in agreement. "I get what you mean," she said. "I'm married. _Married._ It's kinda surreal when I think about it. I mean, my relationship with Alex now is completely different to how it was when we were teenagers. We're grown up now."

"Yeah," Isabelle said. "I miss being a teenager. Less responsibilities."

"Amen to that," Lexie muttered. Isabelle just giggled.

* * *

><p>She hadn't seen Alex in about two months now, but they'd been calling, texting and videocalling all the time. He was due back home in 10 days and that day couldn't come soon enough.<p>

"Why does this always happen when Alex is on tour?" Lexie muttered to herself, staring at the thing in her hands in disbelief.

Lexie had no idea how she didn't notice anything odd before. Why didn't she realise that she had missed her period until now? She tried to calculate when her last one was in her head, and she realised that this must have happened about mid-December. So, she was about 3 months pregnant and she didn't even know. No symptoms or anything. How odd.

Lexie suddenly started to worry. When should she tell Alex? Should she tell Isabelle first? Izzy had gone to pick up Darcy from kindergarten, and on an impulse, Lexie took a pregnancy test. It was positive.

But should she wait until Alex got home to tell him, or tell him over the phone? 10 days was a long time to wait when she thought about it, but she'd want to be right there when she told him. She then realised that they had scheduled a videocall with him today, and that it was in about an hour. She would have to tell him, it'd feel wrong keeping it from him when she'd be able to see his face...

Taking a deep breath, Lexie secretly disposed of her test and kept herself busy for the next hour, talking idly with Izzy when she got back. She would tell Alex first, and then they would decide when they tell everybody else. It was only fair, she decided.

So at about 4 o'clock, Lexie grabbed her laptop and went into the spare room, waiting for Alex to come online. She was waiting a couple of minutes before his face appeared on her screen.

"Hey!" he said happily.

"Hi there," she said giggling. He was rocking that 'I just got out of bed look'. His hair was sticking up in every direction, and his jaw was dotted by stubble. "Just woken up?"

"Ready to go to bed, actually," he said yawning. "Got off stage a couple of hours ago and I still haven't showered. It's a good job you can't smell through a computer screen."

"Gross," she said, scrunching up her nose. "I always forget about the time difference. So it's like what, midnight?"

"Yep," Alex said. "Everyone's gone to bed already as well. I'm sat by myself in the back lounge, that's why it's a bit dark."

"Well try not to wake anybody up," she said, biting her lip nervously. "We could have arranged a different time to talk... I feel bad. You're obviously tired."

He waved his hand at her. "It's fine. I've missed seeing your face, anyway," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Well I haven't missed your unhygeinic habits," she said. "It's not that much effort to take a shower."

"It is though," he whined. "If I can get away without taking one, what's the point?"

"You can't get away with it though, that's the thing," she said, laughing.

"If I had somebody to shower with, I would," he said with a wink.

"You have Jack," she pointed out.

Alex laughed, "Me and Jack may be close, but we're not _that_ close."

Lexie chuckled, then sighed. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," Alex said, smiling slightly.

"Alex," Lexie began. This was it. "I have something important to tell you."

"What's up?" he asked, concerned.

Lexie took a deep breath, then said "I'm pregnant."

It was silent for what felt like a lifetime, then Alex said, "Are you serious?"

She nodded, "I took the test today. It was positive."

"This is amazing," he said happily, smiling radiantly. "How far along are you?"

"3 months?" she said, unsure. "I'll have to go to the hospital to know for sure, but that's what I calculated it to be..."

"Calculated how?" Alex asked, then realisation hit him. "Oh. Ew. Nevermind."

Lexie laughed, "Charming."

Alex smiled even wider, then said "Don't go to the hospital until I'm home. I wanna go with you."

"Okay," she said smiling, and then she found that she just couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

"Have you told Isabelle yet?" Alex asked.

"No," she said. "I wanted you to be the first to know. Do you want me to tell her?"

Alex looked thoughtful for a second, then said, "D'ya wanna maybe keep it a secret for a bit?"

"Why?" she asked, puzzled. Last time, Alex was so excited about it that he told pretty much everybody within an hour of hearing the news.

"Because," Alex said, then hesitated. "Because I think it's best to make sure that y'know, everything's okay before we tell people..."

"Oh," she said, understanding what he meant. "I'm fine with that. How are you going to manage to not tell the guys?"

"Shit, I don't know," Alex said. "Okay, I'll _try_ and keep it a secret, but I might end up blabbing to Jack. I'm sorry in advance."

Lexie laughed, "I don't mind. Just let me know if you tell anybody so I can tell Isabelle. She'll be pissed if she hears it last."

"Noted," Alex said. He suddenly looked wistful, and he sighed. "I wish I was with you right now. I can't exactly hug you through a screen."

"I know," she said, sighing too. "But I thought it was better to tell you know than to wait until you got home..."

"It was!" Alex said. "I just wish that we could do something to celebrate."

"We can do something to celebrate when you get home," she promised, smiling.

"Is this celebration going to include clothing or not?" Alex asked suggestively.

"Depends if I'm in a good mood or not," she teased. "Wait and see."

"Dammit," he muttered, then yawned hugely.

"You're tired," she said. "You should go to bed. I feel bad keeping you up."

"Don't feel bad, love," he said, his voice slightly muffled as he finished his yawn. "But I probably should actually get some sleep. I'll call you tomorow, okay?"

"Okay," she said smiling. "Try not to spill the beans straight away."

"I'll do my best," Alex said chuckling.

"Night then," she said softly.

"Bye Lexie," Alex said. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she said. Alex waved at her, then he disappeared. Lexie closed her laptop and layed down on her bed happily. These next 10 days couldn't come quick enough.

* * *

><p><strong>I thought this was necessary to just speed the story along as it's coming to an end, because lets face it, I've dragged this on for a while now... Anyway, reviews? See ya next time :)<strong>


	22. Chapter 21: The Family

The day that Alex was coming home from tour, Lexie was woken up by the sound of a child yelling, and then she felt the bed move underneath her. She opened her eyes to survey what was going on. Darcy was sitting next to her, smiling cheekily. Darcy looked a lot like Isabelle; she looked how Lexie assumed Izzy looked when she was this age. Darcy didn't really have much of Jack in her appearance, but her whole personality had Jack written all over it.

"Mommy says you need to get out of bed," Darcy said giggling. "She said you're a lazy-bum!"

"Did she now?" Lexie asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "That wasn't very nice of her."

"B-but guess what day it is today, Lexie!" Darcy said brightly, mis-pronouncing her name. She always said her name as "Wexee", even though Lexie knew that she could pronounce it properly. Darcy just chose to say her name like this, which Lexie supposed was just easier for her.

"Um," Lexie said, dragging out the sound. "Is it Sunday today?"

"No!" Darcy pouted.

"I think it is," Lexie protested. "My cellphone tells me so."

"No!" Darcy said again. "You're wrong! Today is the today that daddy comes home!"

"Really? Is it?" Lexie asked her eagerly. "I didn't know that!"

"Yeah! It is!" Darcy said, positively beaming. "M-me and mommy always count down the days on my calender, and today is the day that he comes home!"

"Aw, well what time is he coming?" Lexie asked.

"In a couple of hours!" Darcy told her. "Mommy's busy cleaning up, but I dunno why. She never bothers when daddy's actually here."

Lexie laughed, because yeah, that was true. Before Lexie could say anything else, Darcy spoke again, "Are you gunna come with us to see daddy?"

"I am," Lexie nodded.

"Are you meeting your special friend, Alex?" Darcy asked giggling. Darcy usually burst into a fit of giggles whenever Lexie mentioned Alex, and though Izzy had explained that they were married, and lived like 'mommy and daddy' did, Darcy just giggled like a maniac whenever she mentioned him. So she just referred to Alex as Lexie's 'special friend'.

"Yes, and I'm very excited to be seeing him again," Lexie told her. Then when she said it, she suddenly did feel ridiculously excited. It felt like forever since she had last seen him in person, and after finding out that she was pregnant - nobody else knew, as of yet - it felt even more amazing to be seeing him again.

Darcy giggled loudly, then looked really embarassed as she shyly asked, "Do you and Alex kiss each other?"

Studying the way that Darcy asked that question, Lexie went for the humerous approach to that question. "Ew, no! Boys are icky," Lexie said, feigning disgust. "So you shouldn't be kissing any boys, either."

"I won't, boys _are_ icky" Darcy agreed, scrunching up her nose. "But Daddy's a boy and I love him lots."

"Daddy's are different, though," Lexie said wisely. "They don't count."

"Lexie!" Isabelle called from downstairs. "Are you up yet?"

"Yeah!" Lexie called back. Darcy smiled toothily then said, "Get ready so we can go!"

Darcy ran hurriedly out of the room and Lexie got out of bed, and stretched. She really loved her Goddaughter, she was adorable.

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later, Lexie and Isabelle were each holding one of Darcy's hands, and they were waiting outside the airport for Alex and Jack. Rian was going to California to see his girlfriend, and Zack lived in California as well, so they wouldn't be seeing them for a bit.<p>

Darcy was bouncing up and down on her feet, tugging on Lexie and Isabelle's hands. "Where is he, mommy?" Darcy asked pouting.

"He'll be here any minute," Isabelle said soothingly, then looked at Lexie and rolled her eyes. "Daddy's girl" Isabelle mouthed to her.

Lexie chuckled lightly, and she was about to get her cellphone out to check to time, when she felt Darcy's hand slide out of her own. Then she heard Darcy shouting, "Daddy!" and looked up to see her running into Jack's arms. Jack put down his case just in time to catch her, and he held her in his arms tightly. Isabelle rushed over to them and Jack put his free arm around her and Lexie smiled fondly at her friends. They looked so happy together.

Her attention was quickly diverted to the person who was next to Jack, and Lexie immediately ran over to him, throwing herself into his arms. The force rocked him backwards, but he regained his balance and wrapped his arms around her.

"Easy girl," he murmured into her hair.

Lexie didn't say anything, just buried her face into Alex's chest, hugging him tightly. He rested his head on top of hers, and they stood like that for a few moments.

"Lexie!" Jack's voice sounded from behind her. "Don't I get a hug?"

Lexie leaned back from Alex enough to look at Jack. "I don't think you've got room for another person to hug, there," she pointed out.

Jack looked at Isabelle and then Darcy. "I wanna get as many hoes as possible," he said innocently.

Isabelle scoffed and hit him lightly round the head. "There are children here, Barakat," she scolded.

"Yeah, Barakat," Darcy said bossily, then just giggled as Jack blew a rasberry on her neck.

"Hey Lexie," Alex said, regaining her attention.

"Yea-" Lexie started to say, but she was cut off by Alex's lips pressing onto hers. She smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck, while he held her on her waist. She would have gotten a lot more into it, if it wasn't for the fact that they were at an airport and they had company.

"Lexie!" Darcy's appaled voice said. "You told me that kissing Alex was icky!"

Lexie laughed and Alex just looked at her, his expression a mixture of hurt, confusion and slight amusment. "It is," Lexie said, scrunching up her nose.

"Hey!" Alex said offended.

"I'm just telling it like it is," Lexie teased, pressing a kiss onto his nose.

"As fun as this is," Jack said. "I wanna get back home."

* * *

><p>"So," Alex began as they stepped into their house. "How's mini-Gaskarth?"<p>

"Dunno," Lexie said, throwing her keys onto the table. "We'll find out tomorow. I made an appointment at the hospital."

Alex came over and wrapped his arms around her, "Well I managed to keep my mouth shut. Have you told Izzy?" he asked.

"Nope," Lexie said. "It's just our little secret."

"I kind of like it being a secret," Alex mused.

"Mm, so do I," Lexie agreed. One of Alex's hands came to rest on her stomach and he gently ran his hands across it.

"It's so weird to think about," he said. "There's a person living inside of you."

"Saying it like that does make it sound weird..." Lexie said, grinning.

"I can't believe this is happening," Alex said smiling. "I am ridiculously happy right now."

"So am I," Lexie said with a sigh of content. "I wanna do something to celebrate, but there's not much we can do when it's just us that know."

"I know something we can do," Alex said suggestively, as he started lightly kissing her neck.

Lexie giggled, "I rather like your thinking."

"Mm," he breathed against her neck. "I bet you do."

* * *

><p><strong>Filler, sorry! :P<strong>

**Next chapter within the next few days :)**


	23. Chapter 22: The Early Date

It wasn't until Lexie had her second scan, that her and Alex decided to tell people. It was difficult for them to keep it a secret, but after the miscarriage before, they didn't want to be celebrating prematurely. The doctor told them that the baby was due in mid-September, and so Alex had been working the bands tour schedule around that. Everyone was a bit confused as he asked to make changes, but they were accepted.

The band were going to do a US tour from July to the end of August, and then there wasn't going to be another tour until about February/March the next year. Despite Lexie's protests against this, Alex insisted that he stayed at home with her when the baby was born. But working with the band wasn't going to stop completely; they would have chance to work in the studio, and when they could, they were going to do instores and acoustic sessions.

They had announced all this through the bands Twitter/Facebook etc, and though some people were, naturally, unhappy about it, it was accepted and understood. So Lexie encouraged Alex to make the most of this tour, as it was going to be a while until they toured again, and his last tour as a baby-free man.

Lexie's pregnancy was nothing out of the ordinary, really. She made sure she read plenty of books on pregnancy, so she could tell if anything might be wrong. But everything was fine.

_"There's something we need to tell you," Lexie said. Her and Alex were at Izzy's and Jack's house. Lexie's second scan was the previous day, so now they thought the time was appropriate to spill the beans. And who better to tell first then your best friends?_

_"What's up?" Isabelle asked, furrowing her brows._

_Lexie looked at Alex, to see if he was going to say it, but he just nodded at her. She took that as her cue. "I'm pregnant," she announced._

_"Oh my god!" Izzy said, jumping up in excitement. "Seriously? Since when?"_

_"I've known since about February," Lexie admitted timidly._

_"And you didn't tell me!" Isabelle said appaled. "I'm your best friend!"_

_"We wanted to make sure that everything was going to be okay before we told anybody," Alex told her. "Y'know, after last time..."_

_"You two are the first people we've told," Lexie said, and immediately saw Isabelle's expression light up. She was then ingulfed in a hug by her best friend._

_"I'm so happy for you," Izzy said. "You deserve this."_

_"Thank you," Lexie said, smiling. Isabelle said something else to her, but Lexie was watching Alex and Jack, and she laughed at how typically male their conversation was._

_"Congratulations, bro," Jack said, giving Alex a one armed 'manly' hug._

_"Cheers," Alex said grinning._

_Lexie rolled her eyes, and went back to listen to Izzy. She caught the last bit of what she was saying, which was "you due?"_

_Assuming what the rest of her question was, Lexie said, "Mid-September."_

_"So that's why Alex has been changing the tour schedule?" Isabelle asked, realising._

_Lexie nodded. "I feel bad because he's staying off tour, but he insisted..."_

_"Aw, that's sweet," Izzy cooed. "Maybe he -"_

_"I'm right here, guys," Alex interrupted._

_"Shh!" Isabelle said, putting her finger to her lips. "Girly conversation going on right here."_

_Lexie laughed, and then spent the rest of her evening discussing pregnancy stuff with Izzy. It's safe to say, that having a friend who's had a baby previously, is incredibly helpful._

Lexie smiled at the memory of when they told Isabelle and Jack. They told everybody else the next day, and all Lexie heard after that were messages of 'Congratulations."

In May, her and Alex flew to the UK for her brothers wedding, and it was then that she told him the news. He could guess anyway - she was showing by then - but she was glad that she could tell him in person. It was also great to finally see her brother happy with somebody.

* * *

><p>On the 31st of August - just under two weeks before Lexie's due date - was the bands last date of tour, in their hometown of Baltimore. Lexie and Isabelle both decided to go to the show, and it was halfway through the bands set when it happened.<p>

"I swear Jack takes drugs before he goes on stage," Isabelle muttered. "How is it possible that he has that much energy?"

Lexie laughed and shrugged, "He's just a hyper person, I guess."

"It's not natural," Isabelle said, then she looked down at Lexie and her eyes widened. "Lexie, please tell me that you've just got over-excited and peed yourself?"

"What?" Lexie asked, puzzled. Then she realised. Her waters just broke. "Shit!"

"Oh my god!" Izzy panicked. "What do we do? Okay. Um, we'll go to the dressing room. Are you in any pain right now?"

"A bit," Lexie admitted as Isabelle put her arm around her and walked her cautiously away. "It's just like a dull ache at the moment. Oh my god, Izzy, I'm so not ready for this!"

"You're going to be fine, okay?" Izzy said. "I promise you."

Lexie sat down on one of the sofas in the dressing room, and watched as Isabelle phoned an ambulance. Then watched as she threw her phone down in fury.

"What's up?" Lexie asked.

"There's been an accident on the main road here," Izzy said, looking distressed. "They said they'll try and get here as fast as they can, but it could be about half an hour."

Lexie whimpered in fear. "What if the baby comes before then? I can't have a baby in a freaking dressing room! Oh my god, I can't do this. I can't, I -"

"Lexie," Isabelle said, sitting next to her. "I promise you that it's going to be okay. I'll do everything I can to help. Now do you want me to go get Alex?"

"You can't," Lexie said. "He's on stage."

"I don't give a shit if he's on stage or not," Isabelle said, standing up. "I'll be right back."

"Izzy, wait -" Lexie started to say, but she had already gone.

Great. Her baby was coming two weeks early, and she was going to give birth in a dressing room of a concert venue. Without medical help or pain-relievers as well, by the looks of it. Then she felt an agonizing pain in her stomach and she gasped, panting.

She was just about ready to have a complete freak out, when Alex burst into the room, looking sweaty and tired, but very alert. He dashed to her side and kneeled next to her, taking hold of her hand.

"Are you okay? Has Isabelle phoned an ambulance?" he asked looking desperate.

"I'm fine," she panted, though that was a total lie, and he knew it. "She tried, but there's been an accident or something, and it's not going to be here for a while."

"Shit," Alex muttered. "So you're going to have it here?"

"It looks like it," Lexie whimpered, feeling terrified as she felt another sharp pain.

"Don't worry, okay?" Alex said, moving her hair gently from her eyes. "I'm not going to leave your side. I'm here."

"You should be on stage!" she said. "How did you get away?"

"Izzy ran up and told Matt, who then came onto stage to tell me," Alex said. "So I just took my guitar off and ran back here."

"Oh, you didn't have -"

"Yes," Alex said sternly. "I did."

"Well where's Izzy gone now?" Lexie asked. As if on cue, Isabelle came back into the room, carrying a pile of what looked like towels and blankets, with a bowl balanced on top.

"What's all that for?" Lexie asked, eyes widening.

"It's necessary," Isabelle said. "You're going to have to sit on the floor. There's no way you can do this on a sofa."

Isabelle didn't wait for Lexie to reply, just pulled her down to the floor with the help of Alex, and sat her on one of the towels.

"Izzy," Lexie said wincing through the pain. "I can't do this here. I just can't, I -"

"You don't have a choice," Isabelle said. "Look, I've had a baby. I know what you're going through. And my guess is that this baby is ready to drop out. I know I'm not a qualified midwife or anything, but I'm probably the best you're going to get right now. I'm the only other girl here, and I'm guessing you don't want any of the guys to help. So I'm really sorry that this has happened, but there's nothing else I can do."

"I'm scared," Lexie whimpered. "I don't -"

Lexie didn't finish what she was going to say, as then she felt the most agonising pain she ever had in her life. She cried out loudly, and clutched at her stomach, as if that would help somehow. She was also sure she had just crippled Alex's hand, but at that moment she didn't really care. Isabelle gave her a sympathetic look, but then got another blanket out.

"I know this is going to be awkward," Isabelle said. "But your pants are going to have to come off."

"I don't care," Lexie nearly yelled. She knew that labour was painful, but she never imagined it would be as bad as this. It was the worst pain she'd ever felt and she knew that it was only going to get worse.

She became kind of dazed then, as Isabelle was doing something that she wasn't really paying attention to. But she saw her hand Alex a bowl.

"There's an ice pack in there," she said to him. "Keep it on her head."

Alex looked puzzled, but did as Isabelle said. Lexie didn't even realise that she was sweating until the ice pack touched her forehead, and it felt like an intense relief. But the pain in her abdomonan was still there and it wasn't going away anytime soon.

Lexie then noticed that her legs were up and there was a blanket over them. Isabelle looked up at her. "Just start pushing whenever you feel ready," she instructed.

Then there was more pain. Everything kind of blurred together through it. In little moments, she became aware of little things happening around her. Isabelle encouraging her. Alex holding her hand, even though she was probably near to breaking it. The sound of Alex trying to soothe her, but for some reason that just made her angry.

"Alex, shut the fuck up!" she practically screamed. "I swear to God, I am never having sex with you again if this is the result of it!"

"Lexie, I -" Alex started to say.

"Shut up!" she yelled again. "Nothing you say is going to get rid of this pain, okay? I'd like to see _you_ try and push a 7lbs baby out of _your_ vagina!"

Isabelle looked like she was trying not to laugh. She turned to Alex and said, "She doesn't mean it."

"I fucking do," Lexie muttered and then the pain came back again. She wasn't sure how much longer she was there for, but as the pain started to subside a bit more, she saw more people come into the room. Doctors? By the looks of it.

Isabelle moved to Lexie's other side and held her other hand. She became aware of the doctors talking to her, but the pain continued. Then it stopped. And she heard crying.

Lexie's mind came back into focus and she looked around at what was happening. There were two ambulancemen with their backs to them, and judging by the sound of crying, they had her baby. Isabelle and Alex were on either side of her. Isabelle looked proud and relieved, and Alex looked rather terrified.

One of the ambulancemen turned around, and in his arms was a baby wrapped in a blanket. The baby was crying at the top of their lungs.

"You have a baby boy," he said kindly, and handed him over to Lexie. Lexie looked down at her newborn son in wonderment, and then decided that all that pain was worth it. He was beautiful and so tiny, and he was hers. She was so wrapped up in staring at her sons face, that she barely noticed Isabelle leaving. She must have said something to the two ambulancemen, because they left too, leaving her alone with the baby and Alex.

Lexie figured they wouldn't have that long alone. There was the afterbirth - shudder - and then the fact that they'd need to actually get to a hospital to get cleaned up and looked after properly.

"We're parents," Alex whispered in her ear. She looked up at the sound of his voice, and he kissed her gently.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you," Lexie said quietly.

"It's understandable," he said with a small smile, then looked nervous. "Can I hold him?"

"Of course," Lexie said and gently passed the baby to him. Alex held him nervously, but then the baby stopped crying and Alex looked at her in surprise. "I think he likes his daddy."

Alex chuckled and looked down at his sons, now peaceful, face. "I can't believe this is actually happening," Alex said in amazement.

"Me neither," she said, and rested her head on his shoulder. "And I am fucking nackered right now."

"Do you want me to go get the ambulance guys?" he asked. "We can get you to hospital and you can rest."

"Not yet," she said. "I don't know when we're going to be alone like this again."

"Mm," Alex murmured in agreement.

"I know it might seem a bit early to suggest this," Lexie said after a moment of silence. "But I thought of the perfect idea for a name."

Her and Alex decided they didn't want to know the sex of the baby until it was born. So they just toyed around with names for both boys and girls, but then Lexie thought of the perfect name, and looking at her baby, it seemed to fit.

"What is it?" Alex asked curiously, looking down at the now sleeping baby.

"Daniel," Lexie said. "I thought that because of your brother, and now -"

She was silenced by Alex kissing her again. "I love it," he said. "Thank you."

They were alone for a couple more minutes, before the ambulancemen insisted that they moved to the hospital. Lexie reluctantly agreed - she could have stayed in that moment forever - and she was transported to the hospital with Alex by her side.

It wasn't how she had planned her baby's birth to go, but as she looked down at the face of her son, she decided that she wouldn't change a thing, and that Daniel Gaskarth would be the most loved baby on the planet. She was going to give her son a better family and childhood than she had, she was determined.

* * *

><p><strong>As you can see, I've skipped quite ahead in this story. There's probably about 2 more chapters left if I can stretch it that far, so reviews? :)<strong>


	24. Epilogue

"Momma!" Lexie turned away from her wardrobe and watched as her son ran into her room and sat on the bed.

"What's up, sweetie?" she asked, kneeling in front of him.

"Daddy shouted at me," he pouted.

"Why did he do that?" Lexie asked raising her eyebrow, though she could already guess the answer.

Daniel shifted guiltily. "Because I tried taking one of his guitars," he mumbled.

Lexie sighed. "Again? You know you're not allowed to touch them," she reminded him. "You can learn to play guitar when you're a bit older, if you want to. Daddy will even teach you."

"But I want to learn now!" he protested.

"Tough," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"I just wanna be a rockstar like daddy," Daniel grumbled, folding his arms.

Lexie smiled, "You can be. One day."

Daniel didn't say anything, just stared at her with a pout. "Have you apologized for taking his guitar?" she asked. Daniel shook his head, so Lexie said in a sing-song voice; "He'll probably give you ice-cream if you do..."

Daniel's eyes lit up, and he ran out of her room shouting for Alex. Lexie smiled and sat down on the bed, hand coming to rest on her swollen stomach. Daniel was now about 3 years old, and Lexie was 5 months pregnant with her and Alex's second child. They had found out in the previous scan that she was having a girl this time, and Lexie couldn't be anymore excited.

She wanted to give her daughter the childhood she should have had. But she was glad they had Daniel first - if he was as good as a brother as Noah was, then her daughter was going to be treated like a princess. Lexie already knew that Alex wanted to spoil her rotten, he'd done exactly that with Daniel.

Becoming a parent wasn't exactly easy. It was tiring, stressful and time-consuming. At times, it had caused tension between her and Alex, more so when he was on tour and she was at home, but they always made up - more proof in her eyes that her and Alex were just meant to happen. After the baby was born, Alex was going to take Daniel out on tour for a bit to give Lexie a break. For which she was thankful. Daniel was already showing signs of wanting to be just like Alex, and that thought made her smile so wide. That's why he kept taking Alex's guitars - he wanted to learn to play, so he could be like him. But Alex didn't like it, he was afraid that they were going to get broken, but he promised that he would teach him one day.

Lexie had no idea how long she was sitting on her bed, remincising about being a parent, but then Alex appeared at the door holding Daniel on his hip.

"I apparently have to give him ice-cream," Alex said, though it sounded more like a question.

Lexie grinned. "I wouldn't mind having some ice-cream either," she said.

Alex rolled his eyes, then said "We don't actually have any in. Wanna go out and get a sundae?"

"I'm up for that," Lexie said. "Daniel?"

"Only if it's chocolate," Daniel said grinning.

"You can have whatever flavour you want," Alex said, planting a kiss on his forehead before setting him back down on the floor. "Now go get your shoes on."

"Yay!" Daniel cheered as he ran out of the room. Alex grinned watching him, then came over to Lexie as she stood up.

He leaned forward and kissed her gently, one of his hands automatically resting on her stomach. "How're you feeling today?" he asked.

"Pregnant," she answered, wrapping her arms around Alex's neck.

One of his hands moved to her waist, the other still on her stomach. "In a bad way or a good way?"

"In an 'I'm-pregnant-and-all-I-want-to-do-is-eat-junk-food' way," she said. "Hence, why I want ice-cream."

Alex laughed, "Ice-cream cravings I can cope with," he said. "A pickle and mustard sandwich I cannot."

"Hey, that sandwich was awesome," she said offended.

"It was gross. Really really gross," Alex said, scrunching up his nose.

"Yet you still kissed me afterwards," she pointed out.

"I wanna taste those lips, why don't you shake those hips," Alex sang, making Lexie laugh. Then both her and Alex jumped in surprise as the baby kicked.

"I take it you felt that?" Alex asked, eyes wide.

Lexie nodded and watched as Alex ran both of his hands over her stomach. "Sing something else," she told him.

"Uh - sing what?" Alex asked.

"Anything!" Lexie said.

"Okay, um..." Alex said, then started singing 'The Middle' by Jimmy Eat World. "It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the -"

"She's doing it again!" Lexie said excitedly as the baby kicked again. "She must like the sound of your voice."

Alex grinned and moved her hair from her eyes gently. "I don't blame her," he said.

"Ass," she muttered, but leaned up and kissed him gently. She could feel Alex smile against her lips as he wrapped his arms aroud her tighter.

"Ew!" Daniel's voice sounded from across the room. "Daddy, leave mommy alone! That's gross!"

Alex laughed and released Lexie, just keeping hold of her hand. "Sorry, little man," he said. "Ready to go get ice-cream?"

Daniel nodded happily, and took hold of Lexie's other hand as they stepped out of the door. Lexie smiled fondly at her son as he chatted animatedly to Alex. She never imagined that she'd end up with a life like this. That she'd be married to a famous musician, have children, or even live in America. But as she saw how happy Alex was with the family they had, she knew that she wouldn't change it for the world.

* * *

><p><strong>AN - Please read :)  
><strong>

**And this story has reached its end. I've had so much fun writing this, and I just want to say thank you to all my lovely readers/reviewers, you guys are amazing :)**

**I'm gonna need you guys to be a bit vocal right now. What're your overall opinions on this 3-part story? Favourite moment? Least favourite? Feel free to let me know, I'm curious as to what you guys think of this story as a whole, and your favourite bits and stuff :)**

**Also, I've been considering maybe writing a series of one-shots for this? Like, I'll post a new story thing and just update with some cute-sie one-shots from stages in the story. You can leave suggestions for what extra stuff you'd like to read****, or even if you want to me to do it. Have you had enough of this story and characters, or do you wanna see more stuff? I'll only do it if the consensus is a yes :)**

**Finally, a bit of shameless self promotion right now; if you haven't already****, go check out my new(ish) All Time Low story called 'The Girl's A Straight Up Hustler'. As this story had ended, I'll be focusing a lot more on that one and it's always awesome to get more readers. **

**So yeah, sorry for the long authors note, but I had a lot to say. Again, thank you for sticking with it for this long, and let me know what you think about the possible one-shot series thing, and your favourite moments from this 3-part story. Thank you :)**


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